Reconnections
by mamapranayama
Summary: Sam reconnects with her friends after she returns from Atlantis. Spoilers for SGA 'Search and Rescue' and 'Continuum'-SamDaniel. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, I just like to have fun with them._

_Please review- This is my first fiction writing of any kind, so please let me know what you think- constructive criticism is always welcome!_

"Hello?" he asked as he came around the corner and entered his office. He could have sworn he heard sniffing coming from the back of the darkened room. Peering into the dark, he thought he could make out a silhouette of a person sitting on the floor between two bookshelves.

"Is that you Vala?" he questioned as he turned on the overhead light. To his surprise it was not the raven haired woman he was expecting. Instead, a familiar blonde looked up at him, squinting at the sudden light with red, swollen eyes.

"Sorry, Daniel, it's just me." she stated dejectedly, wiping her nose with a wad of tissue.

"Sam, what are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming for a few more hours. What's going on?" Daniel was immediately worried over Sam's obvious distress. He could tell she had been crying.

"I was supposed to have a meeting with the IOA to discuss my first year performance as commander of Atlantis, but apparently they had the meeting without me." Sam wiped at the new tears that threatened to escape from her eyes.

"What happened?" He asked with a concerned face. He knew it had to be bad to reduce Sam to tears. He crossed the room and sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Woolsey met me as I arrived so he could let me know that I'm being replaced." She stated bitterly.

"Oh Sam, I'm so sorry." Daniel squeezed Sam's shoulders tighter. Sam leaned her head into his chest, grateful for his presence and support.

"You want to know what the real kicker is?" She asked. "Woolsey is the one replacing me. I bet he just couldn't wait for me to come through the gate to rub it in my face." Once again angry tears began to form, but Sam fought against them.

"You can't be serious; Woolsey? That paper-pushing, bureaucratic worm? I can't believe Jack would let that happen." Daniel was stupefied and beside himself with anger over the situation. He knew how hard Sam had worked to replace the much loved Dr. Weir on Atlantis and was ired that the IOA had failed to recognize her efforts.

"It was out of his hands." Sam replied in defense of her former CO. Jack may be the top military officer overseeing the Stargate programs, but the IOA had the final say regarding her position. She knew he would have fought for her to remain on Atlantis, but the IOA felt that the military was controlling too many aspects of the Atlantis expedition.

"All they cared about was having a civilian in charge." Sam continued unable to keep the anger out of her voice.

Daniel held Sam while she sniffed a few more times and wiped her nose again with the tissue. He turned to face Sam who was now looking at the tissue she was shredding unconsciencely. He cupped her face with his hands and lifted her chin up to look at him. He smiled warmly at her and leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"Come here." He said as he gathered her into his arms for a full on hug. Sam hugged him back and rested her chin on his shoulder. She had forgotten how long it has been since she and Daniel had hugged like this. The year that she had spent on Atlantis had found her new friends, but she had never found a friend like Daniel there. He always was willing to listen to her rant and rave about some new tech they had found and she in turn felt his excitement when he described a new culture or language. They not only understood each other and their passion for their respective fields of study, but they connected on more than just an intellectual level. It was as if they were two halves to a whole.

Sam knew without a doubt that Daniel was her best friend. However, after Vala had come back from the Ori galaxy she began to have her doubts about Daniel's feelings for her. Between his preoccupation with the Ori and his constant distractions from Vala, they rarely had time for each other. It seemed like they had been drifting apart and the year she was gone had only served to widen that gap. However, the only place she could think of going after Woolsey had given her the news had been Daniel's office. Despite the fact that he wasn't there when she first entered his office she knew that he would come eventually. Now here she was again in Daniel's arms and it felt as though she had never left.

"It'll be okay Sam." He murmured softly as he rubbed her back. Daniel could feel some of the tension in her shoulders relax and he felt good that he could be there for his friend. He had truly missed Sam while she was gone. He had always felt comfortable around her enough to confide in her his inner most thoughts and secrets, something he didn't have with anyone else, not even Jack or Vala. Daniel couldn't help but think of the time she had come to see him on Vis Uban to convince him to return with them back to Earth. He didn't remember her name at the time, hell, he couldn't even recall his own, but he had sensed that same feeling he was feeling now. A closeness that failed to be defined by any language he knew. It was that connection that had led him to believe that they had been telling the truth to him, that they were is friends, even if he couldn't remember them.

"Thanks, Daniel." she sighed.

"You're Welcome. I missed you, Sam." Daniel replied "I'm sorry this happened, but I'm glad you're back."

"I missed you too."

Daniel and Sam broke from their embrace when the phone began to ring. Daniel stood and offered his hand to Sam, helping her to her feet. Daniel gave her a smile and walked over to the phone.

"Daniel Jackson" He spoke into the receiver. "Yes sir...she's here too. Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes." He hung up the phone and turned to Sam.

"General Landry wants us to come to his office."

"Me too? What's going on?"

"I don't know, guess we better go find out." Daniel walked back over to Sam grabbing a few more tissues from his desk on the way. He handed her the tissues. Sam accepted them gratefully and rubbed off the mascara that had smeared under her eyes. Sam took a deep breath and blew it out again, feeling more and more composed.

"You gonna be alright?" he asked with a concerned face.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better now, thanks." She nodded and smiled up at him before kissing him chastely on the cheek. He smiled back and gestured to the door.

"Let's go then." Daniel and Sam walked out of the office together as he turned off the lights and closed the door behind them.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Stargate. Wish I did, then maybe I could afford to get the air conditioning fixed on my car._

_Please let me know what you think, as this is my first fiction. Thanks!_

_On with the show:_

By the time Sam and Daniel reached General Landry's office, Sam felt more like herself again. She was still severely pissed, but the tears were gone and she was confident that she was in full control of her emotions. She berated herself for the crying jag she had released in Daniel's office, but she had to admit that it had felt good to let it all out. Losing command of Atlantis had been a big blow to her and thinking about her friends in the Pegasus galaxy made her sad, but she just couldn't deal with that right now.

The door to Landry's office was already open as Daniel and Sam stepped into the room. General Landry stood up from behind his desk and crossed the room to greet Sam. He shook her hand and addressed her.

"Welcome back to the Milky Way, Colonel."

"Thank-You, Sir." she replied.

"Dr. Jackson, if you wouldn't mind waiting in the conference room, Id like to speak with Col. Carter in private for a few moments."

"Sure." Daniel nodded and walked across the office to the adjoining conference room and closed the door behind him.

The General turned his attention back to Sam, giving her a small smile.

"Colonel, I wanted to let you know that I believed your performance as commander of Atlantis was outstanding. You should also know how hard General O'Neill and I fought to have you stay in command. However, the IOA's decision is final. I just wish that there had been more that I could have done." Landry sat on the corner of his desk and folded his hands into his lap.

"It'll be O.K. Sir." Sam looked down at her hands, willing the assault from her feelings to go away.

"Now we just have to decide what to do with you."

"Yes, sir."

"I'm looking for a new CO to head up SG3, of course you could always go back to SG1, but Col. Mitchell would still be in command. I'm not going to order you to take command of SG3, but you've proved yourself to be a good leader and that you can make the tough decisions under fire. We need leaders like you here at the SGC, but I leave the choice to you."

"Is this a decision you need today? I'd like to have a little time to think about it, sir." Sam had to bite her tongue to keep herself from automatically blurting out that she wanted to be on SG1 again. She had to make it at least look like she had considered taking command of another SG team.

"Sure Colonel, take some time to mull it over, but I'll need your decision by the end of next week."

"Yes, sir, thank-you sir."

"Well," Landry said as he stood and clapped his hands. "Shall we join everyone else in the conference room? I've called everyone in to discuss Ba'al's extraction ceremony tomorrow."

"Yes, sir"

The scene that awaited Sam and General Landry in the conference room immediately warmed Sam's heart. There were all of her friends, together at one time, something she hadn't seen is over a year. Jack was there as well and currently embroiled in a heated discussion with Daniel. Teal'c sat next to O'Neill, eyebrow cocked as he silently endured the duo's banter. Vala sat next to Daniel, ignoring them and playing with a strand of hair while Mitchell sat across from them all and watched them with a shit-eating grin, thoroughly enjoying the show.

"That's your answer for everything, isn't Jack?" Daniel asked incredulously.

"Always works for me." Jack replied

"Fishing, Jack? That's what we always do. Besides, weren't you the one always complaining about all of the trees there were off-world? And yet it seems every time we get together for some time off, you want to go back into the woods! What's the difference between the trees on Earth and the trees out in the rest of the galaxy?"

"Obviously, They're _Minnesota_ trees here, Danny." Daniel rolled his eyes dramatically and sighed.

"I was just thinking we should go someplace warm and sunny this time for a change." Daniel stated pointedly.

"We are _so_ not going to Egypt! Help me out here, T." Jack turned to the stoic Jaffa, pleading for help in the argument.

"Indeed, you did complain much about the trees on other planets, O'Neill." Teal'c replied with a subtle twinkle in his eye.

"Et tu, Teal'c?" Jack whined.

"Actually," Daniel continued "I was thinking we should go someplace tropical, like Cancun or the Bahamas."

"Ooh, I just saw a show on the Travel Channel about the Bahamas" Vala added, suddenly interested in the conversation. "Did you know they have nude beaches there?" she included. At that, Daniel hung his head and began to shake it back and forth.

Sam began to chuckle at the exchange and General Landry cleared his throat, bringing the conversation to a halt. All eyes turned to him and Sam.

"Sam!" an excited Vala jumped up and rushed over to Sam, nearly knocking her down with her embrace. Mitchell and Teal'c also stood and came to greet Sam.

"Good to have you back here, Sam." Mitchell said with a light slap to her back after Vala released her.

"It is good to have you home, ColonelCarter." Teal'c wrapped his huge arms around her for a quick embrace before backing away to allow O'Neill through to her.

"Hey Carter." Jack pulled Sam into a brief hug and held her out at arms length for a moment giving her a quick grin. Even though it had been almost four years since they had both decided that any sort of romantic relationship between them was never going to work, and they had agreed to just be friends, she still felt a slight awkwardness around him. She had never been certain if what she had felt for her former CO had actually been love or just an infatuation. Many times she had thought about the 'what-ifs', but those days where she had found herself daydreaming about him had truly passed and she could honestly say to herself that she had moved on.

Daniel gave Sam a smile and wave as she and her friends made their way back to their seats. General Landry sat himself down at the head of the table.

"All right people, what's the scoop on this 'extraction ceremony'?" Landry asked making air quotes with his fingers.

"Well, sir." Daniel began "As you know, the Tok'ra have perfected the technique of extracting the Goa'uld symbiote from the host and up until now the Tok'ra have performed this ceremony in secret in an effort to keep said technique out of the hands of the System Lords. Now that we have finally caught the final Ba'al clone, he will be the last of the System Lords to fall. That's why the Tok'ra has invited SG1 to attend this ceremony, as a sort of 'thank-you' if you will, for all that we've done to aid them in their fight against the Goa'uld."

"Or 'thank-you for doing all of the dirty work', you mean." Jack interjected. Daniel shot Jack a dirty look. "What? I'm just telling the truth." he explained. Exasperated, Daniel just shook his head and continued.

"Maltim, the Tok'ra liaison to Earth, has agreed to allow us to bring our weapons to the ceremony, but he was pretty confident that they would not be needed."

"That's good. I for one, will be bringing as much firepower as possible, just in case he decides to make a run for it." Vala stated.

"I like the way she thinks." Jack added.

"Just what do we have to do during this ceremony?" Mitchell asked.

"According to Maltim, all we get to do is observe. Apparently there will be some chanting and a reading of all of the crimes Ba'al has committed before he is removed from stasis and the symbiote is extracted from the host, but I guess we just watch."

"Chanting you say? Sounds thrilling." Jack quipped sarcastically.

"Actually, it sounds fascinating, sir. It should be interesting to see how the Tok'ra manage to remove the symbiote without harming the host." Sam stated, excited that she would get to watch the the Tok'ra technology in person.

"O.K. People, you have a go. You leave at 0800 tomorrow. Dismissed." Landry stood and nodded before turning and going back to his office.

Everyone stayed in their seats for a moment before Jack spoke up and addressed the group. "So, who's up for dinner out tonight? Daniel's buying."

"What?" Daniel shot a deadly look towards Jack.

"Sounds good to me, as long as there's some kind of steak involved." Mitchell chimed in.

"Yes, steak does sound good." Vala joined in.

"Indeed." Teal'c agreed

"I could eat some steak." Sam added with a teasing smile towards Daniel.

"Aw c'mon, Daniel." Jack drawled out. " It'll be a 'welcome home' kinda deal for Carter, you don't want to let her down now do you?" Sam knew how much Jack loved to tease Daniel and for all of his protests to the contrary, she knew that Daniel loved it too. Even though Jack was kidding about the Daniel buying part, Sam knew that Daniel would do it, because that was the kind of guy he was. The kind of guy who would do anything for his friends. Despite being a linguist, he didn't know the meaning of the word selfish and that was just one of the things that Sam admired most in her friend..

"Fine" Daniel groused with a sigh. He looked up at the ceiling and added "Just let me check my credit limit before we go."


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate SG1 or any of it's characters, I just like messing around with them._

_O.K. I have to admit that this is going to be a SamDaniel story. I had intended it to be just a friendship fic, but I found I just couldn't help myself. BTW, I don't have a beta for this story, so please bear with all of my grammatical mistakes. Also, thank-you for the reviews everyone, they've been very encouraging!_

Everyone agreed that dinner would be a casual affair. It was also decided that steak needed to be on the menu and the best place in town for steak was O'Malley's. While the restaurant/bar was a favorite of Jack's, Daniel still felt a bit uneasy in the place since SG1's brawl there several years ago while under the influence of the Tok'ra's strength enhancing bracelets. Even though the establishment had changed owners several times and years had gone by since then, he hated to be reminded of the embarrassing incident.

Before leaving the conference room, travel arrangements were made. Vala, Teal'c and General O'Neill would ride with Mitchell in his SUV, while Sam would ride with Daniel, since her car was still in storage. After the dinner plans were concluded, everyone got up and went their separate ways.

Holed up in his office, the afternoon sped by quickly for Daniel. He made his way through a small mountain of paperwork before he had noticed that several hours had passed and not once had he been interrupted. Something was definitely wrong with that.

He realized suddenly that he hadn't seen Vala since the briefing and that had him worried. He wondered if the upcoming extraction ceremony was bothering her more than she had let on. Being a former host had to have a psychological affect on her and he berated himself for not even considering it before. Deciding that he needed to find her and make sure she was o.k. he got up from his desk and made for the door.

Just as he was entering the hallway he ran smack dab into Sam. Actually, barreled into her would be a more apt description. Acting on instinct, Daniel grabbed Sam's arms in an attempt to keep her from falling. Unfortunately for him, she just happened to be carrying two steaming, hot cups of coffee, both of which landed on the front of his shirt.

"Daniel!" Sam exclaimed. "Oh my God!"

"Ow, Ow, Ow, that's hot!" Daniel cried out as he struggled to unbutton his wet fatigue top in an effort to get the scalding liquid off of his skin. Unfazed by the throngs of airmen watching the spectacle, he gave up on the buttons in favor just pulling the offending garment over his head. Sam ran past him into his office to find something to sop up the coffee while Daniel followed her, pulling the front of his t-shirt off of his skin. Unable to find anything except for a box of tissues, she grabbed it and pulled out as many as she could.

"Oh Daniel, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" Sam blubbered as she ineffectually tried to wipe Daniel's wet chest.

"I'm fine, Sam. Just a little wet. It's ok. It was my fault anyway, I wasn't looking where I was going"

"You sure?" Sam asked still wiping his chest, leaving bits of wet, balled up tissue all over his t-shirt. He grabbed Sam's hands to stop her frantic wiping. He let go as she finally stopped and looked up at him with an apologetic face.

"I'm sure. It doesn't even hurt." He lied, it stung like hell, but at least the coffee that soaked into his shirt was cooling down now.

Sam wasn't buying it.

"Let me see" She demanded

"No, it's fine."

"That coffee was scalding hot. You could have been burned really bad, let me take a look."

"It really wasn't that bad."

"Dammit, Daniel. Lift your shirt up now!" Fed up, Sam fixed him with a no-nonsense gaze until he sighed and finally relented, bringing his t-shirt up. She made a face at the sight of his bright red chest, but she couldn't see any blisters, a good sign that it was just a minor burn. Daniel winced a bit as she tentatively touched his skin, not that it hurt so much, but her cool fingers felt nice against his hot flesh and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from becoming aroused. He chastised himself immediately for even thinking that way, Sam was his _friend _for God's sake. He looked down at Sam and she looked back up at him. Their eyes met for a brief moment before she abruptly pulled her fingers away from his chest and turned away in embarrassment.

"Maybe you should go to the infirmary and get some ointment for it." she suggested without looking back at him.

"No, it's not that bad, I've had sunburns that were worse." Daniel blurted out awkwardly as he took a look at the burn for himself. Just then, he heard the sound of a throat clearing behind him. Sam's eyes went wide and Daniel quickly fumbled to lower his shirt back down. _Just perfect_ he thought _I'll never hear the end of this. _Daniel turned around, unsurprised to see Jack standing in the doorway with a big old grin on his face and his head cocked to the side. However, he wasn't expecting Vala to be standing next to him with a wide smile on her face as well.

"Problems kids?" Jack asked.

"Uh, uh, Just a little coffee mishap." Daniel replied with a reddening face. Sam's face was also taking on a reddish glow.

"I was just bringing Daniel some coffee when we kind of ran into each other, sir." Sam added sheepishly.

"Why Daniel, if I had known that all it took to get your shirt off was to dump some coffee on you, I would have done it a long time ago." Vala walked over to Daniel with her hands on her hips and a twinkle in her eye. Daniel was not amused and he rolled his his eyes at her. He decided it was time to change the subject.

"So, what have you been up to this afternoon?" he asked Vala.

"Oh, General O'Neill here was teaching me how to box." Vala replied as she walked back to Jack and hooked her arm around his.

"She's really quite good ya know; nice uppercut" Jack smiled broadly at Vala. She bounded on her heels and quipped back at him "And you're not that bad for an old guy."

"Hey, I resemble that remark." Jack shot back, running a hand through his grey hair.

Daniel couldn't help but smirk at the two of them. They were two peas in a pod. Somehow they both managed to get under his skin and irritate him like a rash that just wouldn't go away, and yet he couldn't imagine his life without them. It seemed like his earlier worry over Vala's mental state had been unfounded, but he told himself to ask her later how she was doing with the whole symbiote extraction thing anyway.

"You should have come too, Daniel. That way I could have kicked more than just an old General's ass today." Vala beamed, goading him on.

"As much as I would have loved to smack you around a bit Vala, some of us actually had work to do." Daniel retorted with a smarmy face.

"That's _all_ you do." Vala griped.

"Anyhoo," Jack interrupted much like a parent interrupting a sibling dispute. "Vala and I were just coming to see if you were ready yet to treat us to dinner, but obviously you might want to reconsider your outfit." Jack pointed to Daniel's soaked shirt and swiped at the tiny bits of tissue that still clung to it.

"Yeah, I'll go change. You guys can go ahead and I'll meet you at the restaurant. Sam you don't have to wait for me, why don't you go with them also?"

"Actually Daniel, I think I might need to change too, some of that coffee made it onto my sweater as well."

"Oh, Sorry." Daniel hadn't even noticed the small brown splotches that dotted Sam's once pristine white, cable-knit sweater. He hoped it wouldn't be permanently stained.

"Don't worry, it'll wash out if I go and soak it right now." She stated, mirroring his thoughts.

"Alrighty then, you two go change and the rest of us will meet you there. Just don't take too long, I'm starving. C'mon Vala." With that, Jack spun on his heels and exited with Vala following close behind. Vala paused at the door and gave a little finger wave to Sam and Daniel before prancing off after Jack.

Daniel and Sam released a collective breath of air as they watched them go. Sam turned to Daniel and began to smile, which soon blossomed into a chuckle and then to an all out laugh. Daniel watched her with amusement, wondering what was so funny. He couldn't help but laugh too, getting caught up in her mirth. Sam's eyes teared up and she doubled over trying to catch her breath between laughs.

"You..should.. have.. seen your face..when they walked in!." She choked out.

"My face?" he laughed "what about yours? I don't think I've ever seen your eyes get so big!" Sam and Daniel laughed at each other for a few more moments before Sam was finally able to catch her breath and she could wipe the tears from under her eyes. It had felt good to laugh with Sam. It seemed like he hadn't much cause for it the last few years, but now with the Ori gone and Ba'al's imminent demise, maybe he could relax a little at last.

Daniel smiled widely at Sam, the tears from her laughter lit up her eyes and he didn't think he had ever seen them so blue. Sam had let her long hair down and the way it framed her smiling face made him discover that he couldn't recall a time when she had seemed lovelier to him. Not that he had never realized that Sam was an attractive woman, he was a man after all, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what he was feeling right at the moment. Was it just a physical attraction? Or something more? Just then, he remembered who he was thinking about, this was Sam! _Don't be stupid, she's like a sister_ he thought _Besides she would never feel the same for you._

"Thanks Daniel, I think I needed that." Sam sighed still smiling and touched his arm. "I guess we should get changed now. How about I meet you in about 15 minutes at your car?"

Daniel just nodded and watched as she left his office. When he was finally alone, he let the smile slip from his face. He was so confused, he knew he needed to get his thoughts in order. However, he just didn't have the time for it right now. He slapped himself a couple of times to clear his mind and hurried off to the locker room to change; maybe he would have time for a quick, cold shower.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate SG1 or any of it's characters and I assure you I'm not making a dime off of this story._

_BTW: this is a repost of this chapter, there were a few things I wanted to change, to keep everyone in character._

Sam stood by Daniel's car and checked her watch again. He was late. Not that she was surprised. For all of his wonderful qualities and virtues, punctuality was not one of them. Sam on the other hand was almost neurotic when it came to being on time. Growing up with a father in the military and then joining the Air Force herself, she always went by the motto 'If you're not ten minutes early, then you're ten minutes late.' Sam couldn't count the number of times her father quoted that particular line to her.

Just as Sam was beginning to think that she should go after the tardy archaeologist, he came jogging around the corner towards her. He had changed into a dark blue button down shirt and jeans. Pulling on his brown suede jacket, he approached her rather breathlessly. Noticing his wet hair, Sam realized that he probably would have needed a shower after the drenching he received from the coffee earlier, so she decided not to pick on him for his lateness.

Sam noted how the color of the shirt brought out the blue in his eyes, especially now that they were outside in the natural light. She had to admit to always having a bit of a school-girl like crush on Daniel, his boyish good looks turned many a female's head and his puppy dog eyes could melt even the hardest of hearts. Even Janet, the pint sized medical officer that could intimidate the pants off the most seasoned of military officers like Jack, would turn to a puddle of goo whenever he would flash those baby blues.

However, she had never considered him as anything more than a close friend, mostly she believed, because he was like a little brother that needed her protection. His curiosity and passion for knowledge were only outdone by his moral rectitude and this had often led him to dive headlong in situations that often landed him injured or even dead a few times.

Sam had to admit though, that her friend had changed much over the years. A decade of battling the Goa'uld and then the Ori had hardened him, made him into a warrior, something she knew he had never intended or wanted to become, but he had never compromised his beliefs and had always remained true to his convictions. He always believed in peace first, but now when push came to shove, he would shove back. Maybe that's why there had been somewhat of a gulf in their friendship over the last few years, she thought, maybe he just didn't need or want her protection anymore. She hoped it wasn't too late to bridge that gap again.

"Sorry, Sam. I didn't mean to take so long."

"It's okay, I wasn't waiting long." Sam replied. Daniel gave her a warm smile as he came to a stop in front of her.

"You look great." Daniel remarked sincerely and gave her a small peck on the cheek. Sam was flattered by his statement and she felt her face flush a bit, she was surprised by her reaction, it wasn't like this was the first time he had ever paid her a compliment. She had changed into a red form-fitting sweater and jeans that had gotten a little bit tighter on her since her last trip to Earth. Having been away from going on regular missions had made it harder for her to stay in shape while she was on Atlantis. Not that she felt fat, in fact, she had only put on a couple of pounds, but she knew she would be in for some hard workouts before she was in the same physical condition she was in before she took command in the Pegasus galaxy. But still, she thought, it felt good that he noticed.

"Guess we should get going." Daniel said.

"Yeah, guess we should."

Daniel moved to the passenger side of his car and opened the door for her before crossing to the other side, getting in and starting the engine. They drove on for several minutes in silence. Daniel was being quiet and Sam sensed that he was distracted by something, but she dismissed it for now and figured she could ask him about whatever was bothering him later. She hoped they would get some time that night to catch-up since it had been so long since they really had a chance to just get together and talk like they used to before she left.

"Are you doing anything tomorrow after the ceremony?" She asked, unable to stand the quiet any longer, Sam figured she would need to be the one to start the conversation.

"What? Oh, uh, no, I don't think so." He answered, finally breaking from his reverie.

"I was just wondering because I need a ride to get my car out of storage so I can start looking for a new place to live."

"Oh, that's right, I forgot that you sold your house." he glanced at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the road. "Well, I don't know how long the ceremony is going to be tomorrow, but I should be free in the afternoon. I actually got quite a bit of work done today without having Vala bug me every ten minutes, so I should have the entire weekend free. I could help you look for a new place."

"That would be great, I think I'm going to need all the help I can get. It's been a while since I've had to go house hunting. Now that I think about it, there's so much to do, I've got to find a new place, get all my stuff out of storage, set up utilities; I'm getting tired just thinking about it. You know I'm wearing my only other civilian top that I brought with me, guess I'm going to have to go clothes shopping also to tide me over until my stuff gets here from Atlantis." Sam sighed apologetically "I'm sorry it's been a long day, I don't mean to dump on you."

"Don't worry about it; feel free to dump on me anytime, I don't mind." Daniel smiled at her and Sam smiled back. "You know I'll help you get settled here again, so will everyone else. After we find you a new place, I'm sure Mitchell and Teal'c would love to help you move your stuff in and Vala would be more than happy to take you clothes shopping. We'll talk about it with everyone when we get to the restaurant."

Sam thought about how nice it was to know that things hadn't changed much since she left. Even though she had been gone for so long, they were still a team, always there for each other when one of them needed help.

She found herself lost in her thoughts and staring out the car window as the familiar sights of Colorado Springs went by, feeling for the first time that day like she was really home. Despite losing command and the subsequent blow to her ego, she knew that she would be able to deal with it. She had her friends here after all and she was where she belonged. It was as though the dark cloud that had been following her all day had dissipated and a new lightness had settled on her.

Looking over to Daniel, he too seemed in his own little world again. However, before she could ask him what was on his mind, they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant.

"Well, here we are." he announced as he parked and turned off the engine. He got out and jogged over to Sam's side and opened the car door for her. Sam had always thought of herself as a self-sufficient and independent woman, but there was something endearing about a man that opened doors and pulled out chairs for her and Daniel had never failed to always be a perfect gentleman. As she exited the vehicle, she hooked her arm around his elbow.

"Shall we?" Daniel gestured toward the restaurant's door.

"let's go" she replied as they walked arm in arm to the entrance.

"How much you want to bet that they ordered without us?" Daniel asked rhetorically just as they entered the establishment together.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I'm just having fun here, I don't own Stargate SG1 or it's characters, but life sure would be sweet if I did._

_Big thanks to everyone for the reviews! I really appreciate it. Got a longer chapter going this time, hope you like it. Not much SamDaniel in this chapter, but it's coming. I promise._

Daniel held the door open for Sam as they entered O'Malley's. Immediately upon crossing the threshold, he heard Jack's voice call over from the other end of the restaurant.

"'Bout time you two! Get over here." Jack waved them to the table. Friday night at the bar and grill was a busy and noisy place, yet Jack's voice still managed to carry over the clanking of dishes and boisterous music coming from the old school Jukebox. Daniel and Sam struggled to make their way through the throngs of people over to the table where their friends were seated. Jack sat between Vala and Teal'c on one side of the table, while Mitchell sat on the other, gesturing for them to take the two seats next to him. Daniel pulled out the chair next to Mitchell for Sam and then sat himself down in the chair next to her and across from Vala.

"What took you two so long? I'm so hungry I'm about ready to eat Teal'c's hat." Cam complained while pointing to the Colorado Avalanche cap that hid Teal'c's golden forehead tattoo. The hat was a gift from Jack, who thought the fedora that Teal'c normally wore in public made him look old, especially since his fifty year stay on the Odyssey left him with a streak of grey. Sometimes it drove Daniel crazy not knowing what had transpired during the years they were stuck on that ship, but when he thought about it, it didn't really matter, history was being rewritten and what happened on the Odyssey wasn't what would necessarily happen this time around.

"I'm surprised you just didn't order already." Daniel said looking to Jack.

"Actually, I did order. You're getting the Ribeye, medium well with baked potato and Carter, you're getting the Prime rib, medium rare with mixed vegetables."

"You ordered for us?" Daniel asked incredulous."How did you know what we would want? What if I had wanted chicken or Salmon instead?

"Daniel, how often have we come here for steaks?"

"A lot more often than I really wanted to"

"And what, pray tell, have you ordered every single time we have come here?" Jack asked smugly.

"Ribeye, medium well with baked potato." Daniel admitted, defeated. "Okay, I get your point, but what about Sam?"

"Right-O, Carter, what about you? What have you ordered every single time we've gotten together here?" Jack asked, turning to her.

"Prime rib, medium rare with mixed vegetables, sir." Sam said with a slight hesitation before breaking out into a grin. "I guess we are a little predictable."

"Just a wee bit." Jack added sarcastically. "Hey, at least we told them to hold the food until you got here."

"Speaking of which, where is our little serving girl?" Vala asked looking around.

"I'll go find her before we all starve." Mitchell offered. "Be right back." Mitchell got up and left on his quest to find the waitress as Jack turned his attention back to Daniel.

"So, Danny, How's the chest?" He asked with a wide smile. Daniel sighed, and lifted his glasses up to rub the bridge of his nose, he should have known that he hadn't heard the last of Jack's ribbing on the coffee incident.

"Yes, Daniel, are you sure you don't need Sam to take another look at it?" Vala joined in with a wink towards Jack.

"What has transpired?" Teal'c asked with all seriousness "Have you been injured DanielJackson?"

"No." Daniel replied flatly shooting a dirty look at Jack. "I'm fine."

"Carter here just thought that Daniel would look better with a couple of coffees on him." Jack smirked at Sam, who just shook her head turning a little red.

"Anyway," Daniel started, trying to change the topic "Sam and I were talking on the way over here and she's going to need some help moving as soon as she can find a new place."

"I would be honored to provide you with assistance, ColonelCarter." Teal'c nodded at Sam with an almost imperceptible grin.

"Me too." Vala added with a sincere smile.

"I wish I could help you move the heavy stuff Carter, but I'm due back in Washington tomorrow night, but I'll give you the number to a realtor friend of mine, he helped me sell my house, he can find you a place in no time." Daniel noticed the look that Jack gave Sam. He had seen it many times before. He knew that they both had had feelings for each other at one point, but he always wondered what had happened that has kept them from ever getting together.

"Count me in too." Cam said as he slid back into his seat while briefly patting Sam on the back. "Food's on the way guys. I know, I know, no need to thank me, all in a day's work." He kidded.

"Thanks Cam and thanks everyone. I really appreciate it." Sam smiled.

"It's the least we can do." Daniel said giving her a quick squeeze on the hand and looked up at Sam's face. They eyes met briefly and Daniel felt for a moment that same twinge he felt earlier in his office with Sam. The same feelings that had crept up on him and kept him distracted on the car ride to the restaurant. What was wrong with him? he thought. It must be just the excitement having her back after such a long time. Daniel pushed the feeling aside and looked back down at the table.

"Ah, grub's on guys." Jack announced as their waitress arrived with a fully loaded tray of steaming plates. She distributed the plates and everyone began eating. The conversation was light throughout the meal, Jack told a few bad jokes and Mitchell felt the need to add a few of his own as well. All seemed to be having a good time, but Daniel couldn't help but notice that Vala hadn't been eating with her usual gusto. He had to hand it to her though, she was good at hiding her true feelings behind those pigtails and joking smiles of hers. He knew he would need to talk to her tonight.

After they had all finished eating, Sam was challenged to a game of pool by Cam and pretty soon she, Jack , Teal'c and Mitchell were making their way back to the pool table. Daniel sat at the table, signing the credit card receipt for the bill as Vala got up to join the others at the pool table. However, Daniel grabbed her hand before she could stand all of the way up.

"Stop." He demanded from his seat. "Sit." Vala sat with a huff and crossed her arms, giving him the evil eye.

"What now Daniel?"

"What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"About tomorrow."

"Not in particular, why do you care anyway."

"Because, Vala, I can tell it's bugging you." Vala was silent for moment and looked down at her hands.

"It's okay if you don't want to go, no one will hold it against you." Daniel spoke softly.

"No, I want,need to go. I just can't but help wonder what will happen to the host." Her voice was almost a whisper, not wanting anyone to overhear. "When I was separated from Quetesh, there was no one there to help me. I was a host for only a fraction of the time this man has been, even if he is a clone, he still has all the memories of everything Ba'al has made him do. I can't imagine the horrors he must have endured century after century as Ba'al and yet after tomorrow he will no longer have that evil parasite controlling his every action. It's a very confusing and frightening experience." Her eyes took on a distant look. Daniel grabbed her hand for a moment and drew her attention back to him.

"You know, Vala, there's a good chance that the host may be too far gone to be saved. All those years as a host will most likely have left him insane or even catatonic." Vala looked down again, letting some of her facade slip ever so slightly. "Look, maybe you could stay a while afterwards and help him or at least be there for him to help adjust to life after being a host." Daniel tried to offer his assurances, but he found it hard to believe himself that there would be much of any hope for the host after so long.

"I don't know." Vala sighed. "You're probably right, there might not be much of the host left." She took on a defeated look and Daniel felt terrible, he hadn't meant to dash any hopes she had for the host, he just wanted her to face facts.

"Hey, no need to give up yet." Daniel reassured her. "Why don't you just wait and see how it goes tomorrow before you make up your mind." Vala nodded and smiled up at Daniel.

"Okay." She said looking a little more cheerful and slipping back into her usual carefree Vala persona. "Well, as much fun as this little chat has been, Mitchell has promised to teach me pool, so I think I'll go and join them." He watched her get up and cut across to the pool table surrounded by the rest of their friends, her pigtails swaying from side to side. He knew she would be alright, she was a fighter after all and could bounce back from just about anything.

Daniel observed his friends from across the room as they played. Sam was thoroughly kicking Cam's ass and had won the first game in only a few minutes, her knowledge of physics and geometry weighing heavily in her favor. As Vala joined them, Mitchell and Sam teamed together to teach her the basics of the game. Teal'c stood nearby observing the game, but appeared to be enjoying the antics of his teammates.

Not much of pool player himself, Daniel decided to get up and go to the bar. It was right next to the pool table so he could still be a part of the group without having to actually play. He slid into a stool, turned to the barkeeper and ordered a light beer. Sam and Vala's laughter echoed behind him and he smiled, it was almost like music to him. It made him glad whenever his friends were happy and it seemed like they just hadn't had enough happiness lately.

He turned in his stool to face his friends and couldn't help but think how times like these were usually so fleeting. It always seemed that whenever something good in his life came along there was always something dark lurking behind him, ready snatch it all away. It had been that way all of his life. First with his parents, then with Sha're and now he wondered what evil was still out there, waiting to take the place of the foes they had fought so long to defeat and steal what little bit of good he had built here with his friends.

"What's up?" Daniel hadn't noticed Jack seat himself into the stool next to him until the older man's words snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh nothing."

"Right." Unconvinced, Jack turned toward the barkeeper and ordered a beer for himself. Daniel turned as well, so that he and Jack were both facing the bar.

"Soooo" Jack drawled out.

"So" Daniel replied. He wondered absently why all of their conversations always seemed to start this way. It was like they had to perform some kind of ritualistic dance and skirt around any kind of real issues before one of them finally broke down and actually _talked. _

"So, what's going on with you lately?"

"Not much. Caught a Ba'al. You know, the usual." Daniel stated dryly. "What about you? Couldn't help but notice how you and Vala seemed to have bonded this afternoon."

"Jealous?" Jack ribbed.

"No." Daniel replied succinctly. "Actually, I should thank you, I got more done this afternoon than I have in weeks. How in the world did you end up teaching her to box anyway?"

"Well, Teal'c and I were going to meet in the gym for a little sparring session I promised him some months ago. Vala was already in there and wailing on one of the punching bags when I suggested she join us. Guess she had some pent up frustration to get out, she's a real spitfire in the ring. Even showed me a thing or two."

"She's got some issues with tomorrow's ceremony."

"Yeah, I kinda picked up on that."

"So that's it? You guys go a couple of rounds in the gym and now you're best buds?"

"Well, after that I took her out to lunch."

"Wait a sec, Out to lunch? Off base?" Daniel nearly did a spit-take with his beer when Jack nodded. "How come you never take me out for lunch?" Daniel groused with mock hurt.

"We have lunch all the time when I come out here."

"We have lunch in the commissary where the food is free. Big difference."

"Fine, next time we have lunch off post."

"You're buying."

"Alright! God, it's just lunch, Daniel." Jack relented. "Anyway, we just talked, mostly about you, of course." Jack took a big swig of his beer before continuing. "She's something else ya know. She's smart, funny, sassy and the hell of a looker. Why is it you two aren't together again?"

"Jack" Daniel sighed. "We're friends and that's it and all there ever will be between us. Besides, if we ever did become more than friends, I'm sure we would just kill each other. I like her, and I care about her, but she's, I don't know, not right for me."

"You told her this? She seems pretty hung up on you." Jack asked.

"I think I've made it abundantly clear to her how I feel."

"I'm just saying, maybe it's time for you to get a life and find a girl. Vala's interested, I don't see why you don't just go for it."

"Because Jack," Daniel was getting exasperated with where their talk was going. "She's just interested in sex."

"And you're not?"

"No, I mean, yes, but not with her." Daniel sighed and closed his eyes before continuing. "Don't you see, I don't love Vala in that way and sex without the love is just meaningless. Eventually, I hope I can find that woman I can connect with on more than just a physical level. Do you get what I'm trying to convey here?"

Jack smiled at Daniel and nodded.

"Yeah, I get it. I really do. I just think it's time you found some happiness, that's all."

"Thanks, Jack." Daniel was touched by Jack's sincerity and the two sat drinking their beers in companionable silence for several minutes.

"So, you still got leave coming?" Jack asked.

"Yep, got a few weeks saved up, you too?"

"Goin' fishing. You coming?"

"Can't change your mind about going to the beach, can I?"

"Nope."

"Guess we're going fishing then" Daniel shrugged and spun around in his stool to watch as Sam sank another ball. She looked up from the pool table, turned in their direction and smiled. Daniel smiled back and waved. Mitchell stood behind Vala and helped her to line up a shot. Vala pulled back the pool stick and struck the cue ball with all of her might, sending the ball flying off the table and landing at Teal'c's feet. Teal'c calmly picked up the ball and placed it back on the table with a small smile and a slight bow. Vala smiled apologetically to Teal'c while Mitchell and Sam began to laugh uncontrollably.

"What about them?" Daniel asked Jack.

"Guess they can tag along too." Jack said, finishing his beer. "The more, the merrier."


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: Stargate SG1 doesn't belong to me, nor do it's characters. _

_Phew! This has been a hard chapter to write. Thanks again for all of the reviews and comments. Y'all are great! _

Sam slapped at the alarm buzzing next to her ear several times before successfully making contact with the off button and groaned. Morning had come way too soon. After making it back to her quarters on base after dinner, Sam had every intention of going right to sleep. The events of the previous day had exhausted her, yet sleep eluded her.

Thoughts of Atlantis plagued her and she found herself tossing and turning, worrying about her friends over there. She knew they would be alright. Shepherd could handle Woolsey, she just hoped he didn't do anything to get himself court-martialled. Mostly, she was upset that she never really got to say goodbye to everyone. Giving up on sleep, she resolved to write a long letter to everyone and spent a couple of hours on her laptop composing a separate and personal email to each of her friends to be sent over with the next data stream to the Pegasus galaxy.

After finishing her emails, she tried laying down but, once again her mind would not allow her any peace. She found herself thinking about Teyla and her new baby boy. Sam recalled how Teyla had handed the tiny newborn over to her when she went to visit her and John after their rescue. His small fingers gripped her pinkie and she had been overcome with the reminder of how she had always wanted a family of her own one day. Knowing that she wasn't getting any younger, Sam's biological clock's ticking had steadily grown louder over the years, even to the point where she nearly married Pete, thinking that she had been ready to settle down.

Ultimately, she had broken her engagement off with Pete because, while she deeply cared for him, she wasn't sure if she was _in_ love with him enough to be his wife. She didn't want to marry a man that she wasn't absolutely, positively head over heels in love with. She wanted to be swept off her feet by prince charming and at the time, she thought that Jack was him. However, when an intimate relationship between them had never materialized, she felt that any chance she had to become a mother had been blown.

Thinking like that had led to the occasional night with her crying silently into her pillow, letting the loneliness and despair swallow her up and eat her whole. She really was over Jack and Pete, but with her track record on relationships, she didn't hold out much hope of finding love before she hit menopause. She mourned for the life she had always wanted, for the children she felt she would never have and for the soulmate she hadn't found yet.

It had been well past 2:00 am before she finally succumbed to sleep and now the clock read 5:30. Sam rubbed her eyes blearily. She needed to get up, but desperately wanted to just let sleep up and take her away again. She fought against it and pulled the covers off of her, sitting up and swinging her feet over the edge of the bed. Sitting there for a few moments, she let the cobwebs clear from her head before making her way to the bathroom for a shower.

Turning on the water, she let the hot spray from the shower bring her into full wakefulness. She stood there for several minutes allowing the warm beads of water to fall onto her until she finally conceded that she needed to get on with the actual cleaning of her body part of the shower. When she was finished, she stepped out into the steamy bathroom and wrapped a towel around herself. She walked over to the mirror, wiped off the condensation and took a look at herself. Her lack of sleep the night before was evident on her face. Dark circles had formed under her eyes, but she was confident that she could cover them with a little make-up and no one would be the wiser.

Sam dried off and went to get dressed. Desert BDU's were the uniform of the day and Sam was glad that she had at least thought to pack one of each kind of uniform, since it would be at least six weeks before any of her clothes and other things from Atlantis would be in from the _Daedalus_. After dressing she went back to the bathroom, dried her hair and pulled it into a ponytail. Her long hair could be somewhat more of a pain to dry off than her short hair had been, but she loved her longer hair and felt that it was worth the fuss.

Finishing up her daily routine, Sam pulled on her boots and headed for the door. She hoped some breakfast and a couple cups of coffee might chase away the remnants of her exhaustion. She made her way through the corridors, and passed by many familiar faces and some new ones. More than a few times she found herself being stopped by old colleagues and acquaintances, welcoming her back to Earth and expressing their outrage over her removal from Atlantis. News traveled like wildfire on a base like this and she wasn't the least bit surprised to find that just about everyone had heard of her removal from command.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally made it to the commissary doors and entered. She got in line and grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee. Looking around for a seat in the busy commissary, Sam's heart leapt as she spied Daniel across the room, head down, reading the newspaper and mindlessly drinking his coffee. Cutting across the dining facility, she made a beeline for him and slid into the chair across from him.

"Save anything for everyone else?" He asked sarcastically without looking up from his reading.

"What!?" Sam asked, surprised by his greeting. "Good morning to you too." she added. Suddenly, he dropped the paper down, looked up with big eyes and turned beet red.

"Oh Sam! God, I'm sorry, I thought you were Vala." he tried to explain, mortified. Sam chuckled at him, she had to admit to herself that it was kind of fun to see him squirm a bit.

"Didn't mean to disappoint you." She replied with a grin. Upon seeing his obvious embarrassment she decided to cut him some slack and ease his mind. "It's okay, Daniel, I'm not offended, but Vala might be." Daniel looked relieved and gave Sam a smile. She laughed a little and began eating her oatmeal until she noticed that Daniel had fixed her with a concerned gaze. Had he picked up on her lack of sleep last night? she wondered.

"What?" She asked.

"You look tired, you sleep okay?" She knew it. He knew her too well and always sensed when something was bugging her. Truth was, she thought about lying to him and telling him she was just fine. She really didn't want to talk about it, but knowing him, he wouldn't let it drop until she confessed all of her problems to him.

"I just had a lot on my mind last night, couldn't fall asleep." Sam shrugged and grabbed her coffee, taking a swig. She hoped that would be a good enough explaination for him.

"Something you want to talk about?" Daniel wasn't going to let it go, so she figured she might as well get it out now. He was her best friend after all and if she couldn't talk about this sort of stuff with him, then who could she?

"Did you ever get the feeling that, I don't know..." Sam sighed and paused, unsure if she wanted to go on or even how to phrase the question.

"That what, Sam?" Daniel asked, prodding her to continue.

"That, maybe we're missing out on the best things in life. You know, the white picket fence, the 2.5 kids, minivans..." Sam's voice trailed off. "I'm not saying that I regret any of the decisions I've made with my personal life, but I always figured that I would have it all sorted out by now, you know what I mean? Sometimes I feel as though I've spent so long waiting for Mr. Perfect to come along that maybe I've blown all of my chances to settle down and have a family. I guess what I'm trying to say is that every once in a while I just wish for..."

"A 'normal' life?" Daniel finished her thought for her.

"Yeah" she agreed softly.

Sam was quiet while Daniel placed his chin in his hand and contemplated what she had said. "As far as we're concerned, I think 'normal' left town a _long _time ago. In our line of work, our lives will never be normal in the traditional sense but, I don't think that necessarily means you can't have all of those things. And don't think for a moment, that just because all that 'normal' stuff hasn't come along yet, that it won't. It's never too late for you to have what you want. Plus, it's not like you're too old to have kids, you have plenty of time to have a family still."

Sam played with her coffee mug and swirled the black liquid round and round. She felt a bit better after Daniel's reassurances, but a nagging doubt still lingered in the back of her mind. Daniel reached across the table with both hands and placed them over Sam's. She looked up to see him giving her one of his patented looks that said 'I'm there for you'. For a moment, she found herself lost in those magical blue eyes of his and she began to feel her heart beat a little faster. She knew that he had no idea how much he could affect someone with just one of those stares, it was like he could reach right inside of her and find just the right things to say.

"Look Sam, you are, hands down, the smartest, strongest and most beautiful woman I have the pleasure of knowing" he spoke earnestly and with passion "and the man that finally wins the heart of Samantha Carter, will be the luckiest man alive. Don't give up yet, I'm sure the life you've always wanted is still out there for you."

She could feel her eyes begin to mist a bit, so touched was she by his gentleness and sincerity. His face was smiling, but Sam could swear that his eyes took on an almost sad expression and she wondered what it was that could have caused it. However, before she knew it, that hint of underlying emotion was gone, pushed back again into that place wherever he hid his true feelings.

Daniel cleared his throat, broke off his gaze from Sam and slid his hands slowly off of hers. He grabbed his coffee mug, and looked down into it's contents, self-conscience of his impassioned honesty. Sam knew that Daniel was an expert at reading people and he could cut to the heart of other people's problems faster than anyone, but when it came to his own feelings, he often shut down, afraid to let anyone in and possibly cause him any more pain.

Suddenly it hit her like a bomb. Was it possible that he was talking about himself when he referred to the man that would win her heart? Much to her surprise, the thought of him as more than just a friend didn't seem so far-fetched, but the prospect terrified her. Her friendship with Daniel spanned more than a decade and was one of the best parts of her life. Given the disasters that had followed all of her intimate relationships thus far in her life, was she willing to risk what they had? Sam decided it was best to just forget about it, the last thing she wanted to do was ruin what they had just because she found herself attracted to him all of the sudden.

"Thanks Daniel, that was really sweet." She choked out, pushing down the little lump growing in her throat. They were silent for a few moments as they drank their coffee, both of them stealing small glances at each other.

"Anyway, what brought this on?" he asked with a shrug and half a smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's silly really but, you remember Teyla from Atlantis, right?" Daniel nodded.

"Well, she had her baby a couple of days ago." She sighed wistfully "And I guess I got a little bit of the 'baby fever'." She smiled as she said it, hoping to jokingly downplay it and make it seem as though it hadn't actually kept her awake all night.

"Oh, that explains a lot." he said smirking at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked in mock annoyance, catching on to his teasing tone.

"Just that, you know, women your age tend to have the whole biological clock thing..." he explained making a circular motion with his hands.

"Women my age?" Sam interrupted with raised eyebrows and a pretend icy glare.

"Oh look at the time!" Daniel exclaimed while looking at his watchless wrist. "Guess we should get geared up to go, don't want to be late for the Ba'al extraction." He got up hastily and slugged the rest of his coffee down with one gulp. "I guess I'll see you in a little bit, okay?" he added. She just nodded with a smirk and he grinned back before grabbing his tray and heading for the door.

Sam's grin widened into a full-on smile as she shook her head and watched him leave. Just then, she noticed that Daniel had left his newspaper on the table. She picked it up and found it to be the real estate section. He had been circling various ads for apartments and houses and written little notes next to some of the ads, such as 'bad parking' or 'nice neighborhood'. Obviously, he had been putting a lot more thought into finding her a place than she had. Her heart swelled. He was a way better man than he ever gave himself credit for and she hoped one day that he too would find the love that he had denied himself for so long. After all of the crap they had been through over the years, they both deserved it, didn't they?


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I'm just writing this story for fun, I don't own anything related to Stargate SG1. Someone with a whole lot more money than me does._

_Once again thanks for the input everyone! :)_

The mid-afternoon sun was pleasantly warm as Daniel and the rest of SG1 stepped through the gate onto the Tok'ra homeworld. It had been early morning back at the SGC and going from one part of the day to another on a distant planet in mere seconds had always been a little disorienting to him, even after all of these years.

As they descended the steps from the gate, Maltim, the Tok'ra Liaison to the Tau'ri stood waiting for them at the bottom. Daniel had spoken many times with Maltim over the last few days as they made arrangements for the day's extraction ceremony, however, the dark haired Tok'ra had been rather vague about the specifics of the ritual. Daniel didn't think much of it and chalked it up to the usual Tok'ra reluctance to share.

"Greetings, SG1. On behalf of the Tok'ra high council, we welcome you." Maltim's dual-toned voice amiably greeted them as they approached.

"Thank-You Maltim, it's good to see you again." Daniel stepped forward and shook his hand while addressing him. After Daniel introduced Maltim to everyone, the Tok'ra bade them all to follow him towards the city.

As they walked to their destination, Sam caught up with Maltim and began discussing the technical aspects to the extraction machine. Daniel hung behind them a bit, not paying much attention to their conversation, just enjoying the sound of her voice and watching her ponytail sway from side to side as they strolled along. Daniel loved to see this side of Sam. The side that got all hot and bothered by some kind of alien device or when she would go off on tangents, spouting off theories on space or time that went way over the heads of most people.

While Daniel had enjoyed discussing her theories with her, Jack had a tendency to always get a little glassy eyed and then cut her off before she could get very far in her 'technobabble' as he called it. Daniel had himself been on the receiving end of many of Jack's uninterested looks while trying to explain the different aspects of a culture he had been studying or a new language he had worked so hard to decipher. He knew how it felt to be dismissed and he vowed to never do that to Sam.

As the group continued on, he pondered the conversation he had with Sam at breakfast. He had surprised himself by being so honest with her. He had never intended to tell her that she was the smartest and most beautiful woman he knew, in fact, he had only admitted that part to himself last night as he also lay sleepless in bed. However, seeing the pained expression on Sam's face as she bared her soul to him about her longing for a family had pushed him to act and he found himself blurting out the words that she needed to hear, that the man of her dreams was still out there. Yet, the thought of another man giving her the life and the family she always dreamed of, filled him with despair.

He had spent the night trying to get a handle on his feelings for Sam. He tossed and turned, unable to get her out of his mind. He finally had to concede that he was physically attracted to her. That part was easy. She was gorgeous, and when he saw her last night, wearing that tight red sweater and jeans that hugged her every curve, it was impossible to deny.

The hard part was trying to convince himself that it was _okay _to feel this way about her. They had always been nothing more than really close friends, sibling-like in many respects, and he wasn't sure if he should allow himself to consider what it would be like if they were ever more than that.

And then there was Jack and Vala. What would a relationship with Sam do to his friendships with them? He knew that Jack and Sam had something between them in the past but he never knew how far it had gotten or what might have happened to keep them from getting together. Since neither one of them ever wanted to talk about it, he could only guess at what had transpired. He and Jack had always a unique understanding of each other and he didn't want to jeopardize the trust that they had fought so hard to build in each other over the years.

Vala of course, was another problem altogether. While he had made it known to her that he wasn't interested in having an intimate relationship with her, he knew that it would hurt her if he chose Sam over her. He knew she would get over it, but it was against his nature to cause his friends any undo pain.

Thinking of Vala and her earlier apprehension regarding the ceremony, he looked behind to see her chatting playfully with Mitchell and Teal'c. He was glad to see that on the outside, at least, she appeared to be acting normally, but he decided to keep an eye on her during the ceremony anyway.

Before he realized it, Daniel and the others had made their way into the city and approached the ceremonial chambers. Dozens of Tok'ra in robes and in the everyday tan uniforms they sported were milling about and talking with one another as they entered. Their conversations halted and all eyes turned to them as they followed Maltim across the silent expanse of the chamber. Feeling a bit uneasy with the attention, Daniel gave a little smile and nod while Mitchell came up along side of him.

"Hi ya, nice to see ya. Thanks for having us." Mitchell called out and waved as the Tok'ra turned their focus from them back to their discussions amongst themselves.

"Nice folks." Mitchell spoke sarcastically in sotto voce to Daniel. He had to smirk a bit at that. Despite their alliance, the Tok'ra had never held a deep seeded trust in the humans and had often only shared information and technology with Earth when it benefited their own cause. Daniel had to admit that many humans didn't trust the Tok'ra very much either, especially Jack.

"You should be able to have a good view of the ceremony from here." Maltim addressed the group, coming to a halt next to the extraction machine and pointing to the wall on their right. "If you will excuse me, the ceremony should begin soon and I must attend with the other members of the high council."

"Thank-You, Maltim." Daniel told him as the Tok'ra bowed slightly and left them to their own devices.

"Well, this is a nice place." Mitchell quipped while turning around and taking in the architecture of the chamber. "Front row seats, no less." he joked.

"We do not appear to be afforded any seats, ColonelMitchell." Teal'c deadpanned. Cam shook his head and chuckled, knowing that Teal'c was being facetious in his own way.

"This machine really is amazing." Sam said as she approached the extraction device and circled around it, inspecting its design. Daniel moved to join her and take a look as well.

"Maltim said he might be able to let me take a peek at the schematics sometime. He explained how the machine extracts the symbiote through the needle here and into this container" She pointed to the long, thick needle and flask at the front of the device. "Maltim isn't an expert on how the device actually operates and I still can't wrap my head around how they are able to fit the symbiote through that needle. A mature Goa'uld has got to be at least three times as large as it's circumference. Maybe they use some kind of beaming technology, like the Asgard..." Her voice trailed off as she theorized how the machine functioned to herself.

Daniel watched as she delicately traced her fingers along the side of the device and marveled at their long and slender beauty. She smiled at him, he caught her gaze and he felt his heartbeat pick up. Suddenly, a hand clasped him on the shoulder. Startled, he spun around.

"Jack!" Daniel sputtered. "Where have you been?" He asked. Knowing that Jack had gated over before they had, he wondered what he had been doing before they got there.

"Oh, just paying a little visit to my old buddy Ba'al before he gets sucked out of that poor guy's body." Jack pointed across the room to the stasis chamber that held Ba'al." Thought I'd share a few things with him that had been on my mind. Ya know, like how he is a complete an utter bastard and how I was glad his ass is going to die today. That sort of stuff."

"Ba'al's in stasis, Jack." Daniel pointed out.

"Yeah," Jack shrugged. "He did seem a little quiet when I compared him to my toenail fungus."

Daniel knew that Jack had been looking forward to the day that he would get to see Ba'al's demise. The torture that Jack had endured at Ba'al's hand had been bad enough that Daniel had offered to help Jack ascend while he had been on that 'higher plane' of existence himself. Not that Daniel remembered any of it, but it made him angry to think that he may have had the power to help his friend, yet forbidden to do so. It was little wonder that he had been kicked out of the ancients' little club, he couldn't imagine being withheld from helping his friends.

Jack stuck his hands deep into his pockets and strolled over towards Vala, Mitchell and Teal'c. A gong-like cymbal crash sounded and echoed off the walls as Tok'ra began to take positions at various locations across the chamber. Daniel turned to Sam, interrupting her inspection of the device.

"I think that's our cue, Sam." She nodded and went to join the others off to the side. Daniel noticed Vala's conflicted face and made his way over to her. He really wanted to be near Sam, but felt that he needed to be there for Vala.

"You okay?" He asked her as he came near.

"I'm fine Daniel, I just want to get this over with." She gave him a wan smile and turned her attention away from him. He decided not to push it and just gave quick pat on the back.

"So what now?" Mitchell asked him as if he was to know.

"I guess we stand here and watch." he surmised with a shrug.

The first hour of the ceremony had been fascinating for Daniel. The Tok'ra began the ritual with what he thought might be considered hymns; ancient words and melodies that only the Tok'ra knew. He could make out most of what they were singing and many of the songs seemed to allude to events in their history that had shaped the Tok'ra people and society. While he was enthralled with the harmonies and chords of the songs, his fellow teammates were beginning to get a little restless.

By hour two, the chanting began. Daniel's earlier interest in the ceremony began to slip. The Tok'ra started the chanting with a chronicling of Ba'al's past and crimes against the galaxy. No event in his life seemed to be left out, and seeing as how Ba'al had been around for the last couple of millenia, it was going to take some time. On and on it went, the monotonous tones, echoing throughout the chamber, lulling his mind into a fog. Several times he had to pinch himself to keep from falling asleep standing up. His friends didn't seem to be faring any better. Jack and Vala fidgeted like five years olds during a church sermon and several times he caught Sam and Mitchell's head droop and pop back up, struggling to remain awake. Teal'c was the only one able to remain still.

At the three hour mark, Daniel had to constantly shift his feet from side to side in an effort to keep them from going numb. Between Jack's constant asking about when they would get to the good part and Mitchell bugging him every five minutes to tell him what they were chanting about, he was really hoping that it would all be over soon.

Finally, the chanting came to an end and Ba'al was released from the stasis chamber. The Tok'ra allowed Ba'al to say his final words and Daniel was unsurprised by the smug and condescending rant that he delved into. He had heard it all before from the Goa'uld. The usual 'You'll regret this', 'You'll pay for this insolence' and 'blah, blah, blah' spiel. He was unimpressed and so were his friends.

After finishing his threatening tirade, Ba'al was lead into the extraction machine. Daniel thought that it seemed like Ba'al truly believed that they wouldn't be able to go through with the extraction. For a moment, he wondered why that was, but before he could truly ponder on it, the machine engaged. Ba'al screamed as the large needle bored into his brain and the symbiote was sucked from the host and into the flask attached to the needle. The host slumped back as the Tok'ra leading the ceremony grabbed the flask, held it aloft and proclaimed the end of Ba'al and the System Lords before throwing it to the floor with a flourish. The symbiote screeched and hissed as it squirmed and finally died, lying motionless on the ground.

Just like that it was over. Somehow Daniel had expected more. It seemed so anticlimatic, like it had all been too easy. However, he was pleased that, for once, everything had actually gone as planned. Before he knew it, the Tok'ra were dispersing and Jack was inviting everyone to lunch on his dime.

Gratefully relieved to have it all finished, Daniel turned to follow everyone out of the chamber and back to the Stargate. While on his way, Vala stopped him and told him she was going to stay with the host and help him. Daniel was unsurprised and glad that Vala seemed to be in a more relaxed state now that Ba'al was gone. He knew she needed to help him as much as the host was going to need her as he recovered.

The sun was setting as they walked back to the gate and Daniel thought it would have been nice to stay for a little bit and watch it, especially since he noticed how the sinking sun's red and orange rays highlighted the golden tones in Sam's hair, giving her a halo-like glow as she walked with them. However, Jack was leading the way at a pretty fast pace, obviously anxious to get home and away from the Tok'ra. Daniel jogged to catch up with him as he stopped before the DHD. Daniel dialed the gate and the wormhole opened up with a swoosh. He entered the IDC and Sam, Teal'c and Mitchell passed into the shimmering surface of the gate.

"So, lunch Jack?" Daniel asked as they climbed the stairs together.

"Sure, Can't I treat my friends out to lunch?"

"Yeah, but you never have before, we've always gone Dutch. You're just feeling guilty because I paid for six steak dinners last night, aren't you?.

"Am not."

"Right, just seems awfully thoughtful and nice. For you, anyway"

"Hey, I can do thoughtful and nice." Jack claimed as Daniel gave him a disbelieving look and entered the event horizon.

"What? I _can_!"


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Stargate:SG1 or it's characters and make no profit off this story. _

_Sorry, this is a bit of a short chapter and I wrote most of it during a fit of insomnia, so please let me know what you think, good or bad. Thanks :) _

The small deli located in the center of town barely held the five friends as they finished their lunches. Sam thought that while the place was humble in appearance, the roast beef sandwich she had just eaten had been the best one she had ever had in her life. Everyone else looked equally as pleased with their meals and she had to hand it to Jack, how he had found this little hole-in-the-wall, she would never know, but she knew she'd be back here time and time again.

Jack popped the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth and washed it down with a soda before standing and addressing everyone.

"Well guys, it's been a blast, but I have a plane to catch. You going back to base Mitchell?"

"Yes sir, I'll give you and Teal'c a ride. You coming too Carter?" Cam asked her.

"Actually, Daniel here was going to take me to get my car out of storage and hunt for a new place, so you guys can go." She turned to Daniel, who was still working on his tuna salad sandwich. He swallowed and spoke up to Jack before they headed to the door.

"Thanks for lunch, Jack. It was actually pretty good."

"You doubted me?" Jack pretended to be wounded. "Seriously Daniel, you should know by now that I have a sixth sense when it comes to finding the best sandwiches."

"You're right, sometimes I forget all about you're latent talents."

"Hey, watch it or I'll never buy lunch for you again." Daniel snorted and rolled his eyes at that.

"I _really_ wasn't expecting you to."

"Whatever." Jack dismissed Daniel, grabbed his jacket and slipped it on. "I'll call you two later. Mitchell, T, ya ready?"

"Yes sir"

"Indeed, O'Neill."

"Okay then kids, let's go." Mitchell and Teal'c rose from their seats, said their goodbyes to Sam and Daniel and joined Jack.

"Have a safe flight, sir." Carter called out just as they were heading out the door. Jack raised an arm to wave as the three of them exited the deli. She watched them as they passed in front of the window and disappeared around the corner. She turned her attention back to Daniel, who had just finished his sandwich.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, but I had to park kinda far away, there weren't a whole lot of places to park around here this time of day." Daniel smiled apologetically.

"Oh, I don't mind, it would be good to walk off this meal."

Daniel grabbed his jacket and put it on before rising and grabbing Sam's jacket as well and helping her put it on. He pushed the door and held it open as they exited the deli. A cold autumn breeze picked up just as they stepped onto the sidewalk. Sam shivered and cursed herself for only bringing a light jacket. Underneath, she only had one of her tan BDU t-shirts on since her only two civilian tops she had thought to bring with her from Atlantis were in the laundry. She hugged herself to keep the biting wind from blowing through her useless jacket, but it wasn't enough to keep her warm.

"Cold?" Daniel asked as they walked side by side.

"Just a bit." She answered with a slight chatter in her teeth.

"Come here." He insisted as he wrapped an arm over her shoulders. She couldn't help but allow herself be drawn into his body. Sam enjoyed their closeness as she thought that it was more than just the warmth that she sought, but a feeling of safety and comfort that she she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Thanks, I forgot how cold it could get around here this time of year." she told him.

"No problem, you're keeping me warm too." Daniel rubbed his hand up and down her sleeve in an effort to warm her some more. She returned the gesture by wrapping her arm around his waist. She pressed the side of her head into his chest. Hearing his heartbeat, she could swear that it started to speed up as she felt hers begin to pound a bit harder too. Had it really been that long since she had a man that she was actually getting turned on by her best friend? She thought about it as they walked on in companionable silence, and decided that maybe it wasn't such a far-fetched notion to be attracted to Daniel. He did understand her better than any of her previous boyfriends, he was kind, thoughtful, selfless, handsome and smarter than anyone else she knew. What was holding her back?

Then she remembered that when she first met him, he had been a married man. Even after Sha're was killed, he clung to her memory so much so, that Sam knew that he had not been ready to seek out a new relationship. He guarded his heart after she died and to Sam, it seemed like he had built up a defensive shield around himself that kept people at arms length, never wanting to fall in love for fear of losing that person, like all of the other people he had loved in his life. Sam understood this, she herself was still afraid of the same thing.

She considered that maybe that was why she had never contemplated a relationship with Daniel beyond the platonic level. She had been afraid that he would have been too easy to fall in love with and so she kept her distance. Instead, she desperately grabbed onto the hope that one day Jack would sweep her off her feet and whisk her away to that fairy-tale life she dreamed of, even though in the back of her mind she knew that it would never happen.

"So, where to first?" Daniel's voice broke through Sam's thoughts, she hadn't realized that they were approaching his car.

"Oh, uh, maybe we should go look around at a few apartments first before getting my car, that way you don't have to follow me back to base." she replied.

"Sounds good to me." She felt his arm release from her shoulder and she let go of his waist, regretting the loss of his warmth as another gust of wind blustered about them.

"On second thought." she decided. "Maybe we could stop by somewhere so I can pick up a few new sweaters and such before it gets any colder."

"Okay." He agreed and opened the door for Sam before climbing in himself and the two of them took off. They stopped off at the local mall and Sam purchased several new tops and jeans, including a soft, Light blue cashmere sweater that she fell in love with on sight and into which she changed before they left on her apartment hunt.

Thankfully, Sam had remembered to bring the newspaper Daniel had left on the table at breakfast time that had several listings she was interested in. Sam decided that renting an apartment might be the best alternative for her right now since she needed a place quickly. She had loved owning her own home, but buying a home took time, something she didn't have enough of.

The first place they stopped off was nice enough, but a little further from base than she really wanted to be. They toured several apartments without finding one that Sam liked and upon opening the door to the last place, Sam and Daniel took one whiff of the cat urine soaked carpets and turned right around without entering.

Sam was beginning to get discouraged on their quest as she read through the rental listings in the paper. Driving away from the last apartment complex, an ad suddenly caught her attention..

"Hey Daniel, 422 Hightower, isn't that your old apartment building?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, it's a really nice place, I can't believe I missed that ad."

"Well, let's go check it out and then call it quits for today, I'm beat and you're not looking much better."

"Okay, I think you're right, we can always start over again tomorrow if this place doesn't work out." Daniel drove them to the building and Sam noticed that he seemed a little flushed and distracted. As they walked to the door she knew something was bothering him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine, I just have a little bit of an upset stomach, I think lunch isn't agreeing with me." He gave her a weak smile and added "Leave it to me to get food poisoning from the one time Jack actually pays for lunch." With that they headed into the apartment building for one last tour of the day.


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG1 or it's characters. This was written purely for entertainment purposes and I derive no profit from it, in fact I think this is actually costing me money._

_I Can't believe I'm almost finished with this story. I'm hoping to get it all wrapped up before I leave on vacation in a couple of days. Thanks for hanging in there and reading my story, it's been a lot of fun dreaming up how to get Sam and Daniel together._

The building manager turned the key in the lock and opened the door. Daniel and Sam followed after the petite woman into the apartment and took a look around. Daniel was immediately hit by a wave of deja vu as he took in the surroundings. It was the exact same floorplan as the apartment he had when he lived in this building before his ascension.

He had always liked this place. The neighbors were friendly, it was convenient to base and the view from the balcony was extraordinary, especially first thing in the morning as the sun began to peek over the distant mountains. As the manager showed the apartment and pointed out all of the amenities to Sam, he remarked how the interior had the same white walls and carpet color that he remembered from his stay there. After showing off all of the highlights of the apartment, the manager turned to address them.

"As you can see, the neighborhood here is very safe and parking is abundant. I'm sure that you two will be very happy if you decide to take this apartment." Daniel blushed at the assumption that he and Sam were a couple. Not that the notion was unappealing to him. He had tried his best all day to keep his thoughts about Sam at the friendship level, but several times he had caught himself thinking about her in more intimate ways. It nearly killed him when she bought that sweater she was wearing at the moment, she looked absolutely stunning in it with the way it's sky blue hue picked up the azure sparkle in her eyes and accentuated her curvy physique. His stomach was rolling and he wasn't sure if it was caused solely by his tuna fish sandwich at lunchtime.

"Actually," Sam began with a stammer "It's just for me."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I usually don't assume about these sort of things." The flustered woman continued to ramble and gesture with her hands "I thought I picked up on something between you two, my mistake." As if wanting to escape her embarrassment, the manager turned toward the door and opened it, sticking the key in the outside lock.

"Tell you what." she suggested sweetly "I'll leave the key in the lock. Why don't you go ahead and take a look around on your own for a while so you can make your decision. Just drop the key off when you're finished" The woman spun on her heels and closed the door after herself, leaving Daniel and Sam alone in the empty apartment.

"Well, that was interesting." Sam said amused as she turned to look at Daniel with a smile.

"Yeah." He agreed. "So what do you think?" He asked with a shrug, waving his hand around the expanse of the living room they stood in.

"Well, it is nice." She said hesitantly.

"But?" he asked, knowing it was coming.

"But, it's so much like you're old apartment."

"Yeah, it could be the exact same one, except two floors up. Kinda brings back some fond memories for me, I used to love drinking my morning coffee out on that balcony. You can see the best sunrises from here." Daniel thought back nostalgically.

"Maybe you have nice memories of this place, but I don't think I could live here." She said with a sad look around.

"Why?" He asked confused.

"Because Daniel," she said with a slight edge to her voice. "It reminds me that the last time I was in an apartment exactly like this, it was to pack up all of your belongings..."she trailed off and looked away from him. "You were dead, ascended, whatever you want to call it, but you were gone and I didn't think I would ever see you again. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do; to box up all of your artifacts and books and personal things, it tore me up. The thought of that happening again..." Sam looked back up at him again and the saddened expression on her face pained him. He moved toward her and grasped her shoulders. He hadn't thought of that and he felt terrible for not even considering that Sam might have an adverse reaction to seeing an apartment that was identical to the one he last occupied before he died.

"I'm sorry." she said looking down and shaking her head. Once again he could see that that she was beating herself up for expressing her emotions so openly. "I'm being stupid, it's just an apartment, for God's sake. I wasn't expecting to react this way, otherwise I wouldn't have suggested to come and see it." She swiped at the bit of mist that had come to her eyes and he drew her into a hug and held her for several moments, rubbing his hands up and down her back. The feeling of having her close to his body sent an electric shivers down his spine.

"No, it's not stupid Sam," he reassured her. "You can't help how you feel. We don't have to stay. There are lots of other places we can look at tomorrow." He looked down at her as she raised her head and made eye contact with him. He leveled his gaze into her eyes and brushed a strand of blonde hair back that had fallen in front of her face. His hand lingered on the side of her jaw and he was overcome by the sudden urge to just go ahead and kiss her. His stomach churned and he was nauseous, knowing that if he took that step, there would be no turning back. Either she would return his affections or he would be messing up the best friendship he ever had.

The internal debate that raged within came to a sudden and screeching halt as his body reacted before his mind could catch up and stop him. He bent forward and landed his lips gently onto hers, barely making contact at first, fearing that she might pull away. Instead, she pressed her lips back and they enveloped each others mouths. Tentatively at first, they explored each new sensation of each others lips, but soon they gave into passion and hungrily began to discover each other. Daniel pulled her closer as Sam wrapped her arms around him. It was as if all of the second thoughts, fears and doubts they had about each other disappeared as they melted into each other. He had never realized how much he had always really wanted this. Why had it taken so long for him to finally let go and allow himself to be happy?

Daniel didn't want it to end, but his lungs reminded him that he needed to breath and he reluctantly ended the kiss. Panting, they rested their foreheads on each other and caught their breath.

"Daniel, I...That was..." she softly spoke.

"Yeah... intense." He whispered back.

"What did we just do?" She asked

"I think we just kissed." he replied.

"What do we do now?" She asked with real concern.

"I don't know, but I'd like to do it again." With a smile, he brought his lips back to hers and kissed her in earnest and she responded in kind. Time seemed to stand still and neither of them knew how long they remained locked in each other arms, each lost in their new found need. Finally, reason returned to Daniel and he remembered that they were standing in an empty apartment making out and the apartment manager was going to expect them to bring the key back soon. Daniel pulled back and Sam's eyes locked onto him, sparkling with welling tears.

"What's wrong?" He asked, hoping beyond hope that she wasn't forming second thoughts.

"I've been so stupid." She started with the tears now spilling over and rolling unchecked down her face. Daniel felt the nausea he had forgotten return with a vengeance and he prayed that his stomach wouldn't betray him and bring his lunch back up for an encore. He groaned inwardly at the thought that he might lose Sam because he couldn't control himself and the only thing worse than losing her as a lover would be to lose her as a friend.

"Sam..." He began as he closed his eyes. His throat closed up as defeat crept up on him only to be cut off as Sam grabbed his hands and entwined her fingers with his. He breathed a sigh of relief as Sam gave him a bright smile through her tears and continued.

"Daniel...I've spent so many years searching for that man that I thought would complete me and sweep me off my feet when all of this time, you've been there for me, supported me and loved me as a friend and I never realized that you were the one I needed all along." Daniel untied his fingers from Sam's and reached up to wipe the tears from her face with his thumbs. He could feel his own eyes well up and he was unable to keep the hot tears from escaping. Not really wanting her to see him cry, he pulled her into a tight hug.

"I've been stupid too, Sam." he said, holding her head to his chest and kissing the top of her hair. "I think I was always so afraid of losing you as a friend, that any thought of risking what we had scared me to death. I've been lying to myself for so long, thinking that I didn't need to love anyone to be happy, but it's not true. I need you..." Unable to continue speaking past the lump in his throat. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to feel the love that Sam was offering him and he let go and gave into it. Daniel felt lighter than he had in a such a long time, the burden that years of heartache and pain caused him dissolving as he held onto her.

When they were able to ultimately break apart from their embrace they both sniffled and tried to wipe away their tears. Daniel reached into his jacket pocket and produced a small travel packet of tissues that he always carried around for his allergies and handed a few to her before pulling out one for himself.

"Look at us." Sam said with a little chuckle wiping her eyes and nose. "four PhD's and eleven years between us is all it took for us to see what was obvious all along." Daniel had to smile and laugh a bit at that. He placed his hands on Sam's hips and drew her in close again, he studied her face and drank in it's beauty.

"I don't want to waste another minute by not telling you that I love you, Sam."

"And I love you, Daniel." She smiled brightly and he felt his own smile spread widely across his face. He couldn't recall being this fortunate in a long time and feeling the blessings of love blossom in his heart, he kissed her again with all that he had to give. She responded in kind and once again they found each other lost in their affections.

A knock at the door snapped them out of their new connection and they released each other and turned to see the beaming face of the apartment manager peeking around the open door.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but I have another couple downstairs that would like to see the apartment, unless of course you've decided to take it?"

"I think I will." Sam decided as she addressed to small woman.

"Wonderful!" the excited lady clapped her hands together. "I'll go put the paperwork together and meet you downstairs." she turned on her heels and left them again with the door open. Daniel turned to Sam with a questioning face.

"I thought you didn't want to live here? That it reminded you of my death."

"It won't remind me of that anymore, now I'll always recall this as the place where I fell in love with my best friend." She smiled at him and they made their way to the door arm in arm until Sam suddenly stopped and looked at him with concern. "Are you still feeling alright? I almost forgot that you mentioned that your stomach was upset."

"Oh, I'm feeling much better now. Anyway, it's nothing that a little time in bed won't cure." He hinted and waggled his eyebrows seductively at Sam as he nuzzled her neck. She giggled as they exited the apartment and shut the door behind them.

"Why, Dr. Jackson, what ever are you trying to suggest?"


	10. Chapter 10 Rated M

_Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate SG1 or it's characters or much of anything else. Just having a little fun here._

_Was going to update this sooner, but I have been on vacation and finding the time to write has been nearly impossible. However, I did manage to get this little short chapter out. _

_**WARNING**: This chapter is rated M, It contains mature sexual situations-If you don't like that sort of thing, just skip this chapter._

The door to Daniel's house flew open as Sam and Daniel crashed over the threshold, lips locked in a lusty kiss. Daniel kicked the door closed with his foot before Sam could press him against it and ravage his mouth with hers. Filling out the paperwork, paying the deposit and first month's rent for her new apartment had taken far longer than either one of them had ever wanted to wait. Forgetting all about retrieving Sam's car from storage, it was almost a race to get back to his house and explore their new-found passion further.

Sam quickly stripped Daniel of his jacket without her lips leaving his as he ran his hands up under her sweater to find her breasts. His cold hands on her warm skin ignited Sam's desire and she pressed her hips into his, feeling his arousal through their clothing. Her fingers fumbled for the buttons of his shirt, nearly popping a few off in her frenzy before she found her hands under his t-shirt, lifting it over his head and tossing it to the floor. Daniel in kind, pulled over her sweater and removed her bra, throwing them on the floor in a heap before their mouths dove into each other again.

Without warning, Daniel pushed her away from him and swept her off her feet into his arms in one fluid motion. She gave a yelp and giggled as he began carrying her down the hallway towards the bedroom, kissing her all of the way. He gently laid her down on top of the covers of the bed and removed her shoes before unbuttoning her jeans and sliding the zipper down. She lifted her hips up as he pulled them down and off along with her panties. He flicked off his glasses and Sam soon found her own hands unzipping his jeans and tugging his waistband down. Daniel kicked them off along with his shoes and laid his body over top of hers, the sensation of skin against skin bringing Sam to new heights of pleasure as they explored and caressed each other.

Unable to hold back any further, they began their lovemaking in earnest and Sam found herself reaching her peak quickly as Daniel moaned into her ear. Frantically they brought each other rocketing to a level of ecstasy the likes of which she had never experienced before. Her mind clouded over as she gave into rapturous delight and arched her back as she was overcome with wave after wave of an intense and thunderous climax. Her sighs and gasps mingled with his as he finished with her and collapsed in a panting heap.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear then kissed her neck and shoulder. She caressed his hair as she caught her breath. "I love you too" she panted back. He rolled off of her as Sam turned on her side and rested her head on his chest, looking into his face with a bright smile. Feeling a contentment that she hadn't felt before, she snuggled deeper into his body, as he held her close to him. Wrapping a leg over his thighs, she allowed her eyes to close as sleep over took her.

She wasn't sure how long they laid there in each others arms, but it was dark when she awoke again. She studied his features in the moonlight pouring through the window and stroked his hair as he slept. Sensing her touch, he opened his eyes and smiled at her.

"Hey you." He said before running his hand over her hip and kissing her tenderly.

"Hey." She breathed after they parted.

"Quite a day, huh?" He asked. "Watched Ba'al die this morning, Jack bought lunch and I made love to my best friend, which of course was the best part. All this in one day. Seems a little surreal, ya know?"

"Yeah, but stranger things have happened to us."

"Guess you're right about that." He agreed then turned serious. "Anyway, I think we need to talk about what we're going to do now. We're going to have let Mitchell know at least, I guess it will be up to him if we can be in a relationship and still be on SG1. Teal'c and Vala will probably guess right away. Then there's Jack..."He trailed off thinking to himself.

"Then there's Jack..." She sighed. It was going to be difficult to let him know that his best friend was in love with her. Even if they had never had a relationship, it was still going to be a sticky situation and Sam wasn't looking forward to it.

"So, Whatever did happen between you and Jack?" Daniel asked hesitantly. "Neither one of you has ever said anything about it. I know you two had a thing for each other..."

"Daniel." Sam began. She hadn't been prepared for that question and really didn't want to go into it.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me."

"No." She said with a sigh. She knew she would have to tell him the whole truth about what happened between her and Jack. "You should know." resignedly she spoke. "I think Jack and I both wanted more from each other than we could give. We're both military and a relationship between us would have to have been in secret or one of us would have to leave the Air Force. We had a talk just after that fishing trip to his cabin after my dad died and I broke things off with Pete. Since I had no intention of leaving the Air Force, I kinda gave him an ultimatum."

"You gave Jack an ultimatum?" Daniel asked in awe.

"Yeah, I know. Needless to say, it went over like a lead balloon. I told him that we could never have a relationship unless he retired. It was me or the military and he chose the military. We talked it out and I realized then that he was married to his job and things would never work out. We're just too different and too focused on our careers. I guess that's why I left for Area 51 after he left for Washington, I felt like I didn't have anything left to keep me here."

"I know. I thought with both of you gone and Teal'c leaving to help build the Jaffa nation that there was nothing left here for me either. If it hadn't been for Vala and her damned bracelets I'd still be in Atlantis right now." Daniel added.

"Speaking of Vala." Sam looked up at Daniel "I told you the truth about me and Jack now you tell me what's going on between you two."

"That's easy, because there isn't anything going on between us." He quickly replied.

"Really?" Sam asked "Vala hangs onto you like a duckling following its mother."

"I know she is a little preoccupied with me, but she's never had a platonic relationship with a man before. I think that she sometimes confuses our friendship as being something more than it is. However, she's getting the hint that I'm not interested in being intimate with her, especially since I've only told her about a thousand times that I'm not going to have sex with her. We're friends and we've been through a lot together, but I it'll never be more than that, especially now."

"Do you think you could have had something more with Vala if I hadn't been relieved of my command on Atlantis?" Sam asked. Daniel quietly contemplated her question for a few moments.

"I don't know. Vala can be very persuasive and she may have worn me down eventually but, there's no way that could happen now." He gave a tighter squeeze and kissed the top of her head as if to reassure her that she was the only one for him.

"Finding a way to let them know about us isn't going to be easy without hurting them." Sam concluded and Daniel nodded with a sigh. She didn't want to hurt her friends' feelings anymore than he did, but she had finally found a happiness with Daniel that she could never have imagined before.

Daniel rolled onto his side and faced Sam. Brushing her hair from her face, he ran a finger along her jaw and brought her chin up to look at him. He kissed her sweetly and gently on the lips.

"I know, but we don't have to worry about it right now, we'll work something out." He assured her. Sam drew herself closer to him again and Daniel wrapped his arms around her.

"You're right." She said, nuzzling his neck. "Let's just enjoy this moment." Her kisses moved from the side of his neck and traveled across his jaw until making contact with his mouth. Pressing their flesh together they began to heat things up again. The worries and preoccupations forgotten as two became one and their passion became a blaze all over again.


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer- I don't own Stargate SG1 and I derive no profit from this story. This is all just for fun._

_Hey Y'all! Thanks for the reviews and the encouragement, I've been distracted from writing lately, but I hope to get back on track now. I thought I would be done with this story soon, but new ideas keep coming to me, so we'll see how far this goes._

Daniel whistled mindlessly as he breezed though the door to the men's locker room. He paid no attention to Mitchell's gaping face as he began to undress and change into his fatigues. His mind was a million miles away; thoughts of Sam and last night flooded his brain and washed away almost any sense of reality. Waking up with Sam next to him that morning, he couldn't recall a time where he felt this happy and fulfilled in such a long time, not since he first met Sha're. But even that couldn't compare to what he was experiencing now. Loving Sam was totally different than it had been with Sha're. Daniel had only known Sha're for a day before he found himself married to her, yet with Sam he had a decade of experiences and a friendship that ran deeper than he had ever truly realized, as though the years spent building their camaraderie had been mearly a prelude to their now blossoming romance. They had been meant for each other all along, soulmates even, but had never had the courage to actually accept it until now.

He continued his off-key, yet cheerfully whistled tune as he pulled on his boots and began tying the laces. Daniel almost didn't notice Mitchell sitting beside him on the bench with a wide grin on his face until Cam cleared his throat and and snapped him out of his reverie. He turned to look at Mitchell and realized that he had been lost in his own little world.

"What?" He asked as Cam folded his arms and regarded him with a coy smile.

"Whistling Jackson? I didn't even know you could carry a tune. What gives?"

"What? I'm in a good mood. So what?" Daniel shrugged, a little embarrassed. He hadn't even noticed that he had been carrying on in such a manner.

"You in a good mood? I didn't think it possible." Cam narrowed his eyes at him, trying to figure out what had put him into such a mirthful state of mind. Irrationally, Daniel got the sinking feeling that Mitchell would guess right then and there that he had made mad passionate love to Sam last night, yet he knew there was no way that Cam could possibly be _that_ perceptive. As they rode to base that morning, both Sam and Daniel had agreed to keep their new found affections quiet until they had figured out a way to inform the rest of the team.

"Would you rather that I was in a bad mood?" He retorted, trying to deflect him.

"No. I'm just saying that it's kinda nice to see you in something other than your normal Mr. Gloomy Gus persona."

"Mr. Gloomy Gus?"

"Aw c'mon, you know what I mean. I'm just curious to know what would make the normally reserved Dr. Jackson start whistling zip-a-dee-doo-dah first thing in the morning." Daniel got up and closed his locker, hoping that Cam would get the picture that he wasn't going to discuss this with him at the moment, yet Mitchell wasn't going to back down. "So what is it? Discover some new ancient tablet that reveals the secrets of the universe?" Daniel was beginning to get annoyed and gave Mitchell a look that he hoped would express that, but Cam continued anyway. "Ya know, if I didn't know better I would say that you were a man in love, but Vala's still hanging out with the Tok'ra, so..." Before he could finish his sentence, Daniel cut him off.

"Why does everyone assume that Vala and I are an item?" He asked a little louder than he had intended as several other heads turned in their direction.

"Whoa, sorry. Didn't mean to stir up a hornet's nest." Cam raised his hands in defense, but remained steadfast in his attempt to pry the truth from Daniel. "But I'm right, aren't I? It's a girl. If it's not Vala then who is it?" Daniel only rolled his eyes and headed for the door, not wanting to get into this conversation. He knew eventually he would have to reveal the extent of his and Sam's relationship to Mitchell, but he and Sam had only come to terms with each others true feelings less than a day ago and he certainly didn't want to discuss it in the middle of the men's locker room.

Much to Daniel's chagrin, Mitchell followed him as he headed for the commissary to grab some coffee. After Daniel secured his drink, Cam poured himself a cup as well and sat across from Daniel as he took a seat.

"So, are you going to tell me who she is?"

"Not now, Mitchell."

"C'mon, throw me a bone here! Do I at least know her?" Before Daniel could answer the chair beside him slid backwards as Teal'c took a seat and planted his fully loaded tray onto the table.

"Good morning, DanielJackson, ColonelMitchell." Teal'c greeted them before piling a heaping forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth.

"Hey Teal'c," Cam welcomed as he pointed at Daniel "you'll never guess what's up with Jackson here." Daniel groaned inwardly as Mitchell continued "I think he's gone and gotten himself a girlfriend."

"That is most fortunate, DanielJackson. However, I was not aware that ValaMalDoran had returned yet from the Tok'ra." Daniel was really starting to get fed up with the conversation.

"See, that's the thing Teal'c" Mitchell spoke before Daniel could open his mouth "It's not Vala."

"That is indeed surprising." Teal'c replied with a raised eyebrow

"Yeah, tell me about it." Cam agreed.

"Why?" Daniel asked when he was finally able to get a word in "Why is it so surprising that I'm not in love with Vala? She's a _friend,_ yes, but an irritating friend, much like a couple of other friends sitting very close to me that shall remain nameless."

"Fine Jackson, I get it, you don't dig Vala in that way. No need to get snippy." The three were quiet for a few moments as Teal'c resumed eating and Daniel drank his coffee. Cam played with his mug and for a second Daniel had thought that he had finally dropped the subject. That is until Mitchell sat bolt upright as if hit by sudden revelation.

"Oh my God!" he exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table.

"What?" Daniel was almost too afraid to ask.

"I know who it is!" He declared.

"Who is what?"

"Your new girlfriend" Cam grew excited as he explained "It's that brunette nurse that's always falling all over you whenever we get our post-mission physicals, what's her name? Molly? Maddie?"

"I believe her name is Martha, ColonelMitchell." Teal'c helped.

"Yeah, her." Cam agreed. Daniel shook his head, would this ever end? Seeing Daniel's expression, Mitchell's face fell, knowing that he had missed the mark.

"Hey guys." Daniel looked up and smiled as Sam settled into the chair next to Mitchell and dug into a bowl of fruit salad. He laughed internally at the mental image of scooping Sam up and planting a big one on her right in the middle of the commissary just to shut Mitchell up. At least his curiosity would be satisfied. Not that he didn't want to share with the whole world that he was in love with Sam, but they were both professionals and public displays of affection would be out of the question.

"Sam, you'll never guess what's up." Mitchell could barely contain himself.

"Yeah, what's that?"

"Jackson's finally getting himself some." Sam nearly did a spit take with the coffee she had just started to partake in and turned red, glaring at Daniel. He dropped his head to the table and began to bang his forehead on its hard surface.

"He told you that?" She asked as Daniel raised his head and fixed Mitchell with a deadly gaze. The last thing he wanted was for Sam to think that he had kissed and told everyone about their activities the previous night.

"Well, no." Cam seemed to finally pick up on Daniel's annoyance. "Not in so many words, or any words really, but he seemed way too happy this morning for someone who practically lives like a monk. He's also being very stubborn with sharing the identity of this mystery woman, maybe you can pry it out of him, Sam."

"Oh?" Sam asked. She smirked at Daniel with a twinkle in her eye and he was relieved that she no longer believed that their secret was out. "Maybe this isn't any of your business, but I'm sure that whoever she is, she's a pretty lucky girl" She told Cam and gave Daniel a knowing look with a smile. Mitchell failed to pick up on the affectionate gazes they exchanged with each other and began to sulk.

"Fine, don't tell me, I'll find out eventually." He vowed. Thankfully, Sam changed the subject, asking Teal'c and Mitchell to help move her things from storage into her new apartment. Both agreed to help and Cam offered his truck to haul the items to her new place later that afternoon.

Mitchell finished his coffee and complained about all of the paperwork he needed to catch up on before he got up and left the table, leaving Daniel, Teal'c and Sam behind. While Cam had been rather oblivious to the subtle clues that Sam and Daniel had given off, they of course, had been detected by Teal'c. He fixed them both with a stare and an amused raised eyebrow.

"What?" Daniel asked him, knowing that his perceptive friend had most likely discovered that Sam had been the woman that Mitchell had been curious about.

"Am I correct in assuming that the two of you have engaged in a romantic liasion?" Teal'c questioned as Sam looked to Daniel, her face asking him what they should do. He figured it was best to just come clean with Teal'c, he was a trusted friend after all.

"Uh, yeah Teal'c." Was all that Daniel could come up with while nervously scratching the back of his head.

"It was all kinda sudden." Sam added, her face expressing the anticipation of Teal'c's response.

"Indeed." Teal'c replied with what may have been sarcasm to those who knew him. He regarded them once again for a few moments before he continued. "I had often hoped that one day both of you would find happiness and love. While I had not expected for you to find it in each other, it is most fitting that you should be together. For this, you have my warmest regards."

"Thanks, Teal'c" It had meant alot to Daniel to have his blessing. He had always known that Teal'c was a man of few words, but when he did speak it was always honest and meaningful. He regarded the older man with a smile and he could see Sam grinning shyly at him as well. Teal'c bowed his head slightly towards them and stood up, grabbing his tray.

"I shall meet with you both later to aid in your move, ColonelCarter."

"Sure, Thanks. See ya later." Sam told him as he left them alone at the table.

"Guess we're not going to be able to keep this a secret for very long." Daniel surmised as Sam laughed and looked around, satisfied that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. The commissary being mostly deserted except for them and a couple of cooks working at the far end of the dining facility.

"Guess not." She agreed "Well, at least we don't have to worry about Teal'c gossiping about us, that gives us some time to come up with something to tell Mitchell. How do you think he'll take it?"

"That's a good question. I'm not really sure, but he's probably going to need to let General Landry know and there is always the possibility that one of us is going to have to leave SG1." He stated with concern. Fraternization rules were pretty cut and dry for military personnel, but Daniel was a civilian. Even so, the fact that they served on the same team, could pose a problem if they were unable to separate their feelings for one another from their duties. Daniel knew that he and Sam would always be professional in their work and in off-world missions, but others might not believe that to be possible.

"Yeah, I've thought of that too." Sam hesitated before continuing "General Landry asked me lead SG3, I hadn't really considered it until now, but I would take it if it meant we could be together."

"Sam, let's just cross that bridge when we get to it. Besides, I could always transfer to another team a well."

"You're right, we'll just have to play things by ear." Sam nodded and drank her coffee with a conflicted face. Daniel hated to think that Sam would give up SG1 just for him. He reached across the table and took her hand after she placed her mug down and rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand, she squeezed back and they exchanged smiles. They'd figure it out. If he had to leave SG1, he'd do it in a heartbeat. As much as he loved exploring the galaxy and making first contact with new cultures, nothing was more important to him than what he had now with Sam and he would do anything to make sure that she was happy.

Suddenly, warning lights and blaring klaxons flashed as Walter's voice came over the intercom and announced an unscheduled off-world activation. Daniel let go of Sam's hand and sighed, sad to break off their contact, but curious to know what was going on.

"I think I'm going to go see what's up, you coming?"

"Yeah, let's go." They policed up their coffee mugs and Sam's tray quickly as they headed to control room.

They briskly traversed the corridors until Daniel entered the control room with Sam close at his heels. He was surprised to look down through the window and see Maltim, the Tok'ra liasion, walking down the ramp towards an awaiting General Landry. Judging by the expressions on the Tok'ra's and Landry's faces, this was not a simple friendly visit. He and Sam immediately headed to the gateroom and ran up to the General and Maltim.

"What's going on?" He asked as they approached.

"Dr. Jackson," the Tok'ra turned to him and greeted him with a dire expression, his dual-toned voice full of concern. "We have a problem. Vala Mal Doran and Ba'al's host have gone missing."


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: Stargate SG1 and it's characters are property of others, I'm borrowing them for my own amusement._

"How did this happen?" General Landry asked Maltim as they entered the conference room and sat in his chair at the head of the table. Sam took a seat next to Daniel as the Tok'ra sat himself into the chair across from them. Just as they were sitting, Mitchell and Teal'c entered the conference room as well, having just been informed of Vala and the host's disappearance.

"It appears that the host was able to overpower our protection detail and acquire a zat'nekitel. We are unsure what happened after that, but apparently he was able to make it to the Stargate with Ms. Mal Doran, rendering many of our personnel unconcience as he fled"

"You don't know where they went?" Daniel asked.

"Unfortunately, he had quite a lead and our people were unable to observe the gate address before the wormhole disengaged."

"Why would he do this?" Cam wanted to know.

"As you may already know, many hosts that have harbored a symbiote are subjected to the effects of the sarcophagus for ages and withdrawal symptoms have been known drive former hosts to insanity, some end up catatonic and many others have perished, their bodies unable to cope with the loss of the sarcophagus and the symbiote to heal them and others have committed suicide. We have tried for many years to counteract the physical and psychological effects of the sarcophagus, but have been met with little success. It is also not uncommon for a former host to be unable to recall any of their previous life before becoming a host, their own memories having been suppressed so far that all that remains are the memories of the goa'uld. In fact, some of these hosts have even been known to take on the personalities of the goa'uld that used to inhabit them, having forgotten how to be their own person."

"Are you saying that he thinks he is Ba'al?" Sam asked as she recalled her own experience as a host. She had only been Jolinar's host for a couple of days and it had taken her a long time to distinguish her memories from those of Jolinar. She could only imagine how someone who had been a host for so long would be so confused.

"Yes, we believe this is what has happened to this host." Maltim acknowledged as he nodded. "After we removed the symbiote, he was extremely agitated and confused, he could not tell us his name, but insisted that he was Ba'al.. However, he did recognize Ms. Mal Doran as Questesh and seemed to connect with her. She worked very hard to convince him that Ba'al was dead and that the memories he had were not his own, but this only seemed to confuse him more and over the course of the night, this combined with the effects of the Sarcophagus withdrawal made him lash out violently."

"This is something Vala conveniently left out last time she reported to me." Landry stated.

"She probably figured that you would make her come back if you thought she was in any danger." Daniel surmised.

"Damn right I would have."

"Ms. Mal Doran was insistent that she wanted to try to help the host regain his own memories. We assigned a detail to offer her protection, but the presence of the Tok'ra was upsetting to the host and she asked that they remain outside of his room."

"Why wasn't the host kept in a more secure facility?" Landry demanded to know.

"We do not jail former hosts." Maltim answered in a sharp tone. "They are victims of the goa'uld and we refuse to treat them as prisoners. We have never had a former host react quite so extremely before, so we saw no reason to take such extreme measures."

"Do you have any clues as to where he might have taken her.?" Daniel asked, trying to diffuse some of the tension in the room.

"Believing that Ms. Mal Doran was Quetesh in his delusional state, he confided in her that he needed to go to Praxyon, an abandoned mining planet where he claimed to have some sort of 'failsafe' device. The Tok'ra have no record of a 'Praxyon' in any of our databases, so I can only surmise that the location of this planet was known only to him and his clones."

"What about the other clones?" Mitchell asked. "Wouldn't they be able to tell us the gate address to the planet?"

"Unfortunately, only two of the clones have survived thus far, the others succumbing to sarcophagus withdrawal or suicide. Of these two, one is in a persistant vegetative state while the other refuses to speak and I'm not sure that he could be of much help."

"I'd like to try to speak with him." Daniel stated determinedly. "even if we can't get anything out of him, it's worth a shot."

"You are welcome to accompany me back, Dr. Jackson, but as I stated already, I do not believe that you will be able to ellicit much from the clone, he is simply too uncommunicative." Maltim pessimistically spoke.

"Have you considered using your memory devices to retrieve the information?" Sam wondered.

"We have. However, given the fragile state of the clone's mind we are reluctant use them."

"We may not have another choice." Landry addressed Maltim his voice raising up a notch. "If Ba'al has some sort of device out there, we need to find it. Even if he isn't Ba'al, he may still know how to operate it and who knows what sort of havoc he may cause."

"I agree, General Landry, but I must clear this with my superiors before we attempt to employ the memory device"

"Fine. You do that and SG1 will go back with you and try to get that address from the clone the old-fashioned way." Maltim nodded his acceptance of the arrangements as the General turned to the four teammates. "Go get geared up and meet back in the gateroom in 20 minutes. Dismissed" Landry rose from his seat and headed for his office.

Less than thirty minutes later, Sam found herself walking back to the Tok'ra city they had just visited the day before. Colonel Mitchell set a quick pace and she had to practically jog to keep up with his long legged strides. She and Daniel walked silently side by side with Teal'c and Maltim bringing up the rear. She glanced at Daniel, worried by his grim expression.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, his lips pulled into a thin line, looking straight ahead.

"Daniel, C'mon." She knew he was bothered by the situation and she hoped he would open up about it to her.

"It's my fault, Sam. I was the one that suggested to her that she help the host. None of this would have happened if I had just kept my mouth shut." Sam felt the burden of guilt in Daniel's voice. She knew that for all of his skills, he excelled at self-flagellation the most and she sought to assuage his regret.

"You're not at fault here, you know that. Vala's an adult, at least marginally, and she was the one who made the decision to stay and she's the one who told the Tok'ra to keep their distance. You can't keep blaming yourself for things you have no control over."

"I know. But I feel we should have known better by now that we can't leave Vala alone. Someone should have stayed with her."

"Even if someone had stayed with her, that's doesn't mean it wouldn't have happened anyway."

"Maybe." He finally assented. "I just can't help but feel responsible for her. She's like a child sometimes, going off and driving headlong into danger, without fear of consequences."

"Really? You know, Jack used to say the same thing about you and at times, I have to admit, I used to think the same thing too."

"You thought I was irresponsible?" He asked with mock hurt, lightening the mood between them a bit.

"No." She assured him. "Not irresponsible so much as too curious for your own good."

"Ah ha! Now who's the pot calling the kettle black?" He came back with a grin. "I seem to recall a few times where I could say the same thing about you." She smiled a bit at him and shook her head as they approached the city. Maltim caught up with Mitchell and began to lead the way to the building that housed the clones.

Maltim spoke briefly with the guard posted at the entrance before gesturing for the team to follow him. He lead them through a maze of corridors until he stopped in front of a large metal door. He waved his hand over a sensor beside the door and it slid open.

"Perhaps it would be best if only one or two of you entered at a time, this clone has been known to become agitated if he feels crowded." the Tok'ra suggested

"Alright." Mitchell started. "Jackson, you and Sam go talk to the clone, Teal'c and I will wait out here."

Sam and Daniel nodded and entered the room with Maltim. The stark white space was devoid of furniture save for a single bed on which a man sat with his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth. If Sam hadn't known that this was one of Ba'al's clones, she would never have recognized him. His hair had grown long and grey and he was a waif of his former self. His once muscular arms now bony as they held on tightly to his thin legs. His distant eyes stared blankly ahead and his gaunt face bore no signs of acknowledging their presence in the room.

Sam hung back a bit as Daniel handed her his weapon and cautiously approached. Irrationally, Sam wanted to grab Daniel's arm to keep him from getting too close, but she had to remind herself that this wasn't a goa'uld, but just a man and a shattered man at that.

"Has he always been like this?" She asked Maltim.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Does he have a name?"

"We don't know, he has never told us. His responses have been very limited. He understands us and follows instructions, but we have yet to hear him speak." Maltim turned back towards the door. "I shall leave you, perhaps that will help you to get the address you need." Sam nodded and the Tok'ra left the room. Sam turned back towards Daniel and watched as he continued to draw near to the man on the bed.

Daniel moved slowly like one would approaching a wild animal until he was only a few inches from the bed. He crouched beside him and began to speak softly to the man.

"Um, Hi." Daniel began haltingly, as if unsure of how to get though. He looked to Sam, but she merely shrugged her shoulders as she came up beside him, knowing she wouldn't be much help to him."My name is Daniel Jackson and this is Colonel Samantha Carter. You may remember us." The clone continued to stare straight ahead. "Or not." he conceded frustrated. This was going to be way more difficult than Sam could have ever imagined and she had a feeling that the only way they could ever get any information from the clone would be to take it directly from his head with the memory device. Then again she had to hand it to Daniel, he was good at getting people to talk to him. "Anyway, we need your help. A friend of ours was taken by your, er, uh, Ba'al's hosts and we need to find her." Still the clone maintained his rocking and paid no attention to Daniel or Sam. Daniel sighed and looked up again at Sam.

"We're trying to find a planet called Praxyon." Sam added, while getting the sinking feeling that they were wasting their time here. However, she was surprised when the man suddenly stopped rocking and turned his red rimmed eyes to Sam. She was nearly undone by his haunted expression as his eyes locked onto her. She found herself averting her eyes, uncomfortable with his penetrating gaze. Daniel moved closer to the host and the man backed away.

"Whoa, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you." Daniel soothingly reassured him and the man calmed a bit. "You know where Praxyon is?" He asked. For a moment Sam was afraid that the man would retreat again back into himself, but instead he began to slowly nod his head.

"Can you tell us the gate address?" Sam asked with a spark of hope. Maybe they would be able to get him to speak to them after all. Unfortunately, the man was silent and Sam felt her shoulders slump. "I don't think we're going to get him to tell us anything, Daniel. We should ask Maltim to use the memory device."

"Sam" Daniel stood and turned to her. "We don't know what using the memory device will do to him, it could make his condition even worse. He's already been traumatized enough." Sam knew that he was right. The man's hold on this world was tenuous at best and invoking painful memories would more than likely propel him into full-blown catatonia.

"What do we do now?" She asked him. Daniel sighed and looked to the clone in thought. While Sam had given up on believing that they could get any useful information from the fragile man, Daniel still seemed convinced that he could communicate with him. As if struck by a sudden inspiration, Daniel threw off the pack he had been carrying and began to dig through it's contents until he pulled out a small pocket notepad and a pen.

"I have an idea." He crouched down again beside the clone. "if he won't speak to us maybe he can write the address down." He placed the notepad and the pen on the bed in front of the clone, encouraging him to take it. "Do you think you could write the address to Praxyon down for us?" the man stared at the paper and pen and then looked up at Daniel, his face full of fear. After a few minutes of watching and praying that the former host would take the notepad, it became clear that he had no intention of writing anything down for them.

"Okay, you don't have to write anything down. I have another idea." Daniel grabbed the notepad and began scribbling on the paper before ripping it off and placing it on the bed. He scribbled some more on the next sheet and tore that sheet out as well and aligned it next to the sheet already on the bed. Sam began to recognize what Daniel was drawing as gate symbols and realized that he was setting the symbols in order as they would be seen on the dial home device. The clone watched quietly until Daniel had the entire DHD set before him in little scraps of paper.

"Just imagine that you are dialing Praxyon, all you need to do is point to the symbols." Again the clone sat staring at the pieces of paper without making a move. "Please." Daniel pleaded "our friend is out there with a man who thinks he is Ba'al and he's after whatever is on that planet and you are the only one who knows where this place is. I know that you have endured a lot and that Ba'al hurt you far more than any of us could ever realize, but Ba'al is dead and he can't harm you anymore. It's time for this all to end, will you help us?"

The clone began to tremble as Daniel spoke and Sam could see the tears threatening to spill over his eyes until silently, they began to fall down his bony cheeks. Sam was surprised when he reached out with a shaky hand and began to point towards a symbol. She hadn't expected him to respond to Daniel, but before she knew it, the man had given them the seven symbols needed to dial the planet. When he was finished, the man pulled his knees back up to his chest and buried his head them. His shoulders shook as heavy sobs racked his body. Sam's heart went out to the man and she resisted the urge to lay a comforting hand on his back. Daniel however, couldn't hold back his pity and placed his hand on a shaking shoulder.

"Thank-you." Daniel whispered to him before he let go and cleaned up the papers. He stood when he was finished and fixed Sam with a look that utterly moved her. She could see in his eyes the compassion he felt towards clone and it made her love him all over again. She gave him a wide smile and he returned it.

As they turned to leave, Sam looked behind her at the clone. He was still sobbing and had began to rock back and forth again. Daniel clasped her shoulder.

"I wish there was something we could do for him." She told him.

"Me too, but I don't think there is anything that can reverse this, he's just too far gone." Daniel turned away from the man again and gave Sam a reassuring face. Together they walked out of the room and joined Teal'c and Mitchell in the corridor.

"Took you long enough. You got it?" Mitchell asked.

"Yep." Daniel simply replied.

"Great, let's go get our girl." Cam ordered and the four teammates left the building and headed for the Stargate.


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: I still don't own any part of Stargate SG1 or its characters and I most likely never will._

_Bwa ha ha! Daniel whumping is way more fun than it should be. Hope you like this latest installment._

Passing through the icy event horizon was always somewhat of a crapshoot Daniel thought. You never knew what you would face until you actually appeared on the other side. He couldn't count the number of times they sent a MALP ahead of them to determine if it was safe to pass through, only to be met by hostile natives, angry jaffa or worse anyway. Maybe that was why he wasn't very surprised when he exited the Stargate to Mitchell yelling at him to take cover as bullets whizzed by his head and ricocheted off of the edges of the gate. Before he could react however, Sam appeared through the watery surface of the wormhole. He dove for her, tackling her to the ground and shielding her from the hail of weapons fire coming at their direction with his body. A searing heat ignited through the right side of his body, but there was no time for his brain to register any pain before the adrenaline pumping through his blood pushed it aside to focus on getting Sam to safety.

"Jackson! Carter! Over here!" Mitchell shouted from his location a few feet away as he huddled alongside Teal'c behind a large pillar lit up with thousands of lights shimmering across its metallic facade. Sam and Daniel scrambled towards them and shared in the small amount of protection it provided the four teammates. He crouched beside Sam and was relieved to see that she appeared to be unharmed, he on the other hand was beginning to feel the pain in his side grow as the effects of his endorphin rush waned. He continued to try to ignore it, he just didn't have the time to address it right then. Teal'c, Sam and Cam trained their weapons towards a console where a dark haired figure crouched beside it. Daniel lifted his own weapon, it's heaviness causing his side to flare again, he bit his lip to stifle a cry and schooled his features to mask the pain and focus on aiming at the disturbed man. They held off their fire however, when they realized that the man was not alone.

"Stay back! Or she dies!" the former host shouted with wild eyes as he grabbed a mass of black hair from the woman on the floor next to him and pointed the P-90 he had stolen from her at her head with a shaky hand. It didn't take a medical doctor to see that the man was clearly in the throws of full-blown withdrawal as sweat dripped from his forehead and he twitched uncontrollably. Daniel recalled his own addiction to the sarcophagus, how it had turned him into his own worst enemy and he shuddered at the thought of what it was doing to the mind of the man before them now. While he felt sympathy for the former host as he was a victim of Ba'al as much as any of them had been, he couldn't help the anger inside of him swell as he manhandled his friend.

Daniel peered across the chamber and could not recall ever seeing Vala looking more pissed off than she did right at that moment. Obviously, he had to have knocked Vala out in order to get her weapon as she sported a swollen left eye and bruised face. He imagined that it had to be one hell of a fight for him to get the upper hand on her. He worried that she may be concussed, especially since she seemed to have lost the energy to fight him.

"Let her go!" Mitchell ordered.

"Leave here and I promise no harm will come to her." he shouted back.

"Not gonna happen! Just let her go and we'll work something out."

"No, I'm going back." He yelled and continued to aim the barrel of the weapon on Vala as he turned to the console and furiously punched buttons. Above him, Daniel saw holographic images of hundreds of spheres appear. It took a moment for him to realize that they were stars until suddenly, the gate exploded as the event horizon shot forth behind them. Grabbing Vala again and holding the gun to her head he began to walk back towards the gate. He managed to keep her in front of him at all times, so as to use her as a human shield against their weapons.

"Don't let him go through the gate!" Vala called out to them, but the man angrily pulled on her hair, snapping her head backward.

"Be quiet, Quetesh, you have betrayed me for the last time!" He hauled her with him as he backed up to the Stargate with her in front, blocking a clear shot from any of them. "I would have made you my queen, but it's too late for that now. You will suffer along with the rest of these pitiful creatures!" He gave Vala a violent shove forward as he leaped into the gate in one explosive burst of motion.

"NO!" Vala shouted as he was swallowed up by the wormhole and it snapped off. She sat where she landed on the floor until Sam got up and rushed to her side.

"Sam!" Vala exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around her and allowed Sam to pull her up. "I knew you guys would come."

Daniel put his weapon down, relieved to drop it's weight as his side was burning quite awfully now. With a grunt he got up and made his way over to Vala to make sure she was okay. He could sense Teal'c and Cam right behind him as he drew near to her.

"You okay, Vala?" he asked her as he examined her black eye and bruises. She nodded, but obviously she was shaken and she seemed unable to focus. He saw her eyelids begin to droop and he reached out to catch her before she fell to the floor. Agony ripped through his injured side as he tried to lower her down, but thankfully Teal'c had caught her too and was now taking over laying her down. Sam bent down to examine her and checked her vital signs.

"She just passed out, but we should get her back, I'm pretty sure she has a concussion." Sam said as she removed her pack and jacket and rolling it up to form a makeshift pillow for Vala's head.

"Good idea." Mitchell agreed as he went over to the control console the former host had used before to dial the gate. He began punching the symbols for Earth and frowned.

"What is it Colonel Mitchell?" Teal'c asked, coming up beside their leader as he grew more and more frustrated.

"Nothing's happening. I can't get this damn thing to dial the gate." Sam got up from Vala's side and joined Mitchell and Teal'c at the console. Daniel watched as her fingers flew over the surface of the control panel. He was mesmerized by their precision and gracefulness until he began to feel his head begin to spin a bit.

"Dammit!" she exclaimed. "He's locked us out of the system. I need to find his code in order to return control to the console."

"Can you do it?" Cam asked

"I think so, but it's going to take some time."

"How much time are talking about here?"

"I don't know, could be a few hours, could be a few days, it all depends on how many layers of security he's put into the computer's programming." Sam kept her eyes on the computer's display and continued to work as Teal'c and Mitchell looked over her shoulder.

Beside him, Vala began to stir and Daniel painfully bent down before deciding it would be best to just sit down all of the way alongside of her since he wasn't feeling too steady on his feet. Her eyes fluttered open and she moaned a bit as she grabbed her head.

"Hey Vala." He patted her cheek when it seemed like she might go back to sleep. "You with us?"

"Stop slapping me Daniel." she swatted at him and mumbled as she tried to sit up. Daniel tried to help her, but he couldn't help but cry out when she grabbed him around the waist on her way up. He squeezed his eyes shut against the tears of pain that threatened as a wave of dizziness and nauseousness passed over him.

"Daniel, you're bleeding!" Vala showed him her blood covered hand that had grabbed his side. It really hadn't registered with him that he was in fact bleeding at an alarming rate, so distracted had he been by the drama with the clone. The black fabric of his field jacket and pants had camouflaged the blood and no one else had noticed it either until just now. She pulled back his jacket and revealed his bloody shirt. She hastily lifted the shirt up and swore as she looked at his side.

"You've been shot!" She exclaimed as she pushed him down to lay back on the floor.

"Yeah, I gathered that." He came back, wincing as she removed his jacket, pressing it into his wound in an attempt to stifle the flow of blood.

"Why didn't you say anything?" She chastised him.

"Hello, we were kinda busy saving your ass" He tried to joke with her, but the pain flared as she pressed harder into his injury and he glared at her with a deadly gaze. "Not..so.. hard." He ground out through clenched teeth.

"Sam!" Vala called out "Daniel needs you."

Sam turned from the computer and looked behind her at the sound of Vala's voice. "Daniel!" She cried seeing him on the floor and rushed up to his side. "What happened?" Sam's face couldn't hide her worry when she lifted up the jacket Vala was using to staunch the bleeding and fresh blood bubbled out of the bullet hole.

"Guess I dived when I should have ducked." he kidded weakly. Sam pressed the jacket back grimly. "It's really not as bad as it looks." he attempted to reassure her without much success. Sam quickly grabbed her pack and pulled out her combat lifesaver bag. She reached inside for a field dressing, ripping it out of its sterile package and replacing the jacket with the thick gauze bandage. She pressed down on the wound and Daniel grimaced, but it was doing a better job at slowing the hemorrhaging than the jacket had.

"Dammit all, Jackson!" Mitchell groused as he made his way over to them. "Can't we take you anywhere without you getting maimed in some way?"

Daniel rolled his eyes up at Cam and wondered how this day could have gone so horribly wrong when it started out so great. He had woken up with Sam's head on his chest and he had felt on top of the world this morning. But now, just a few hours later, he was lying on a cold floor, bleeding and trapped along with his friends on some abandoned planet halfway across the galaxy. He knew it had all been too good to be true.

"We need to get him out of here." Sam stated, her voice on edge, looking up at Cam.

"I agree. Vala can take care of Jackson, Sam. You find a way to get that computer to work for us and Teal'c and I will look around and see if there is anything around here that can help us out." Mitchell and Teal'c turned and headed to search the area.

"Vala, hold this bandage here and don't let up until it stops bleeding." Sam ordered her as she scooped up his hand and held it to her chest.

"Daniel..." she started before he stopped her.

"I'm fine Sam, really." He reached up and pushed a lock of her hair that had escaped from her ponytail back behind her ear. He gave her a weak smile and she nodded and let go of his hand, knowing that she was their best chance for everyone to get out of there and back home. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting up and going back to the computer with a fierce determination to get the gate to work.

Vala sat to the side, still holding the dressing to his side and fixed him with a look that told him that she had figured out what was going on between him and Sam.

"Vala?" he cautiously asked.

"Sam? " A 'how could you' face stared back at him and he turned away from her. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, but he hadn't been as prepared for the hurt look on her face as he thought he would be.

"Look, Vala..."

"No, Daniel, you don't have to tell me anything. I understand. It's pretty obvious why you would want to be with Sam. She is after all, far prettier and smarter than I could ever hope to be and she's never kidnapped you." She told him off flippantly.

"Vala..."

"Am I really so repulsive to you?"

"Of course not.

"Then tell me why, Daniel." She put a hand to her head, it was plain to see that her concussion was causing her pain and the realization that he was in love with Sam wasn't helping at all. "I've practically thrown myself at you and you reject me time and time again. If I'm not hideous, then what is it about me that turns you off so much?"

"You know that's not the case Vala, so just stop it!" Daniel had to stop for a moment to catch his breath and gather his thoughts. "You also know as much as I do that we make way better friends than we ever would as lovers. Just think about it for a minute. We'd be at each other's throats all the time."

"We're at each other's throats all of the time already."

"Yeah, and sex would definitely complicate things even further." Daniel sighed, hoping he could get across to Vala. "I don't want you to think that I'm not attracted to you, because any man would be. It's just that... I like the way things are between you and me right now. I want to be your friend and I care about you and I want you to know that I'll always be there for you, but I can't take it any further than that because you know and I know that's not what we need from each other. We need to just be friends and I don't want anything to spoil that."

"This is going to take some time for me to accept, Daniel. But, I guess I'll have to get over it."

"I know. I'm really sorry, Vala." She sat there in silence, still holding the bandage to his side in contemplation. She kept her face impassive, but he could still see the sadness there in her eyes.

He realized then how much the conversation had taken out of him and he felt tired and sleepy. The cold from the floor seeping through his clothes made him shiver uncontrollably until Vala grabbed a jacket and laid it over him under his chin. He smiled up at her in gratitude and she gave him a small one back. He hoped this meant that she was going to forgive him, but it was too soon to tell. He stared up at the ceiling and fought against heavy eyelids that wanted to drag him down into sleep, but the promise of its painless serenity was too much for him to resist and he gave into it, closing his eyes and letting it swallow him up.


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: I hold no claims to Stargate SG1 or its characters, I'm just a bored housewife looking for something to do._

_Just a word of warning, I really don't know much about computers other than they are useful for connecting to the internet and typing up this story. So, pretty much all of the technical stuff in this chapter I just made up._

"Dammit!" Sam slammed her fist on the console in frustration as she came across yet another block in her attempt to get them home. Figuring out how to break into the program that Ba'al had installed barring them from dialing the Stargate was taking way longer than she hoped it would and her frustration grew with every wrong turn she took. It was one of the most sophisticated security programs that she had ever come across and even with her considerable skills with this sort of technology, she was still struggling to make it through even the first few layers of it, even after hours of non-stop, furious work.

With Daniel lying behind her, she knew that they were running out of time to get him back to the SGC and she worried that she wouldn't be able to access the gate before it was too late. She had to push the thought behind her though. She wouldn't let that happen, she couldn't lose him now that they had just come to terms with how they truly felt for each other.

"How's it coming?" Cam asked as he came up beside her. Sam shook her head in anger, mad at the whole situation. Cam and Teal'c hadn't been able to find anything that could help them with their situation within the cavernous chamber, so the task of getting everyone home and Daniel to the medical attention he needed back at the SGC fell squarely on her shoulders.

"Every time I take one step forward the program pushes me back two. It's beyond frustrating." She sighed and turned her head to where Daniel lay, pale and still on the floor. Thankfully, his bleeding had slowed down to a manageable level, but he had already lost a lot of blood and was in hypovolemic shock. There wasn't much they could do for him outside of the infirmary, so they tried their best to make him comfortable, elevating his legs with Sam's pack and covering him with jackets. Sam was relieved to see that Vala was still tending to him and checked his pulse obsessively every few minutes while he drifted in and out of sleep.

"Why don't you take a break for a moment and get something to eat?" Cam asked.

"No, we don't have time for that."

"C'mon, Sam. Just a couple of minutes then you can come back to it with fresh eyes."

"Fine." She conceded and walked away from the computer console with Cam and joined everyone on the floor. She scooted up next to Daniel and checked his pulse, it was steady, but fast. She put a hand to his clammy forehead and smoothed back his sweaty hair. Daniel stirred under her touch, his blue eyes peering at her through heavy eyelids.

"Hey, Sam." He greeted her weakly. She was relieved to see him give her a small smile.

"Hey, how you doing?"

"'Kay. Tired...little cold." He answered sleepily, his eyes closing again. She figured he was going back to sleep before he spoke again. "You okay?" he opened his eyes again, looking up into hers.

"I'm fine, Daniel. I'm still working on getting us out of here." She rearranged the jackets, hoping to make him more comfortable.

"You can do it Sam." His eyes began to close again and he was asleep again in moments.

"I sure hope so." Sam turned to her other teammates. Mitchell threw her a powerbar.

"Eat something, will ya" he ordered. Sam wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but she opened the wrapper anyway and took a bite.

"So, any idea what this thingy is? Cam asked, sweeping his hand across the room.

"I haven't had much time to really study it all, but it appears that Ba'al has satellites stationed around the galaxy, monitoring hundreds of stars."

"What purpose would that serve ColonelCarter?" Teal'c asked.

"I think he was trying to predict solar flares, possibly as a means of time travel."

"Really? Like when you guys went back to 1969, right?" Mitchell asked fascinated.

"Exactly, except this machine can predict solar flares near planets with stargates for the wormhole to pass through and accurately send a traveler to a specific point in time. Of course, one may have to wait several days or even hundreds of years for the exact period that they want to go back to, but outside of Ancient technology, this may be the closest thing there is to a time machine." Sam was intrigued by the technology, it was so simple and yet so complex at the same time.

"Well, that explains a lot." Vala started. "Ba'al... I mean the host had been trying to convince me that I should join him when he regained his territories. He said he would 'defeat the SGC before there was an SGC' I didn't understand him at the time, I thought he was just insane, but maybe it was his plan all along to go back in time and mess the future."

"Do you think that the clone was able to actually go back in time?" Mitchell asked.

"I'm not sure. He blocked out his destination when he locked us out of the controls. Speaking of which..." Sam stood to go back to the computer console and continue her attempt to hack into the system. "I need to get back to work." She gave another look back at Daniel, he slept fitfully and she longed to stay with him, but she knew they were all depending on her to get them home.

"We shall keep a close watch on DanielJackson, ColonelCarter." Teal'c reassured her after catching her gaze.

"Thanks, Teal'c" she nodded appreciatively and went back to her task at the computer. She came across wall after wall in the security program time and time again, but she she worked around them and drove on, working so diligently that she didn't notice Cam come up beside her until she heard him speak to her.

"I was just doing some thinking and isn't it possible to just dial the gate manually?"

"Yeah, I thought of that too, but Ba'al rigged the power to the Stargate into the same security program that's keeping us from dialing the gate." Sam kept working without looking to Mitchell, who stayed by her side.

"So all we need is a power source and we're outta here?"

"Essentially, yes, but unless you have a spare naquadha generator around, I'm going to have to keep trying to break into this computer." Suddenly, a thought came to Sam. "Wait a sec... why didn't I think of this before?" She mumbled to herself as she thought about what Mitchell had said. He was right, all they needed was a power source. There had to be a smaller program embedded within the larger security system that controlled the power supply to the gate. All she really needed to do was hack into that program and forget about all of the rest. She turned to him with a hint of a grin as the idea blossomed in her mind.

"What?" He asked

"You're right, Cam."

"I am?" He was genuinely surprised that he may have been of any help to her.

"All we need to do is power the gate." With renewed optimism, Sam dove into the computer system again and found the far less complex program that controlled the power supply. While the other security program that locked the DHD was nearly impenetrable, this program was merely triggered whenever the DHD security was enabled. It would be a simple hack to break into it and gain control. Within minutes, Sam had the gate powered again and she berated herself for not thinking of it sooner, she had wasted so much time.

"Got it!" She exclaimed.

"Teal'c help me with the gate!" Mitchell called out to the large Jaffa. Teal'c sprung to his feet and the two men darted to the gate and began the arduous task of turning the stargate by hand. A wave of relief flooded through her as the first chevron locked.

She ran towards Daniel. Vala's expression however, was full of concern as Sam drew near and joined them.

"I can't wake him up." Vala told her. Sam tapped Daniel's cold and colorless cheek.

"Daniel...Daniel, c'mon, wake up. We're getting out of here...please, just wake up." She begged. She felt for his pulse, finding it weak and thready, but there. It took several more tries but finally, his eyes opened slightly.

"Sam..." His voice was barely a whisper so she bent down close to his lips to hear him."Sorry." She feared what was happening, that he was giving up. She grabbed his hand and squeezed, but his remained limp. His eyes began to close once again and she panicked, thinking that he might be slipping away right in front of her.

"Daniel, no. Teal'c and Mitchell almost have the gate open, just stay with me, we're going to get you home now." She tightened her grip on his hand and he gave her a small nod, opening his eyes and fixing his gaze on her face.

"Hurry Teal'c!" Sam called out as the gate burst to life with a whoosh after Teal'c and Mitchell locked the final chevron. Teal'c ran back to Sam, Daniel and Vala and carefully scooped up the archeologist's limp form into his arms as Sam entered their IDC along with a medical alert.

"Go!" she cried when she got confirmation for them to go through. Teal'c wasted no time in racing for the gate with Daniel, everyone else followed close behind.

Teal'c was already at the end of the ramp and on his way to the infirmary when Sam exited the wormhole. Just before he made it to the blast doors he was met by Dr. Lam and a medical team. He laid Daniel gently on the gurney and the doctor went to work. Sam's stomach dropped to her knees when Carolyn announced that she couldn't find a pulse and started CPR as they rushed out of the gateroom to the infirmary. She raced down the ramp and followed them, not hearing the questions of the General as he entered the gateroom.

She ran alongside the gurney until they reached the infirmary. With Dr. Lam snapping off orders, the medical staff worked quickly and efficiently securing IVs, units of blood and hooking him up to the heart monitor. Sam was sure her own heart stopped when she first heard the tell-tale whine of the flat-lining machine, watching anxiously as they administered epinephrine and charged the defibrillator. She jumped as the electricity shot through Daniel's body, causing his back to arch off of the bed. As the paddles were charged again, a nurse took Sam by the elbow to lead her out of the way. Sam shrugged her off angrily. No one was going to to keep her from being there for him.

Once again, everyone cleared off of Daniel's body as another shock was administered. Sam held her breath and watched the heart monitor, willing it to begin beeping. She sighed in relief when a blip appeared on the screen, followed by another and another until it gained a steady rhythm.

Sam felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Teal'c behind her. She appreciated his calm and steady presence and drew from his strength. Dr. Lam turned her attention to Sam and Teal'c.

"Is he going to be okay?" Sam needed to know. It worried her when Dr. Lam hesitated before answering her question.

"We have him stabilized and we're going to take him into surgery in a just a few moments. It's too soon to be certain, but I think he'll live." She tried her best to reassure Sam, but she still felt uneasy. "Why don't you go and get your post-mission physicals and I'll let you know how everything is after surgery."

Sam hesitated, she didn't want to leave him.

"Would we not serve DanielJackson better if we were to allow Dr. Lam to perform her duties, ColonelCarter?" Teal'c asked. Sam slowly relented, stealing one last looked at Daniel's pale face and nodded, following Teal'c out to join Mitchell and Vala.

Having been ordered to stay in bed for her concussion, a clearly upset and frustrated Vala fidgeted and picked at her IV line. Mitchell paced in front of the foot of her bed as Sam and Teal'c approached. She knew how Cam felt, it was hard to be still when there wasn't anything he could do to help.

"How is he?" Vala asked as Sam came to the side of her bed.

"He's going into surgery, Dr. Lam will update us when he gets out." Vala seemed relieved and Sam took a seat by her bed.

"Damn if that man doesn't have more lives than my Grandma's cat Bessie." Mitchell joked in order to release his nervous tension. "That thing was shot and run over by a tractor twice yet still still lived to be over twenty. I think that's like 150 in cat years." Cam finally took a seat while Teal'c remained on his feet with his hands behind his back.

"How's your head?" Sam asked Vala as she sat. Her former space pirate friend hadn't spoken to her much that afternoon while they were stuck on Praxyon and Sam wasn't sure if it was just the concussion or the fact that she knew about her and Daniel's new relationship. She and Vala had always held a bit of a special bond by virtue of being the only females on the team. Besides Janet Frasier, Sam had never had very many girlfriends. Since her profession was overwhelmingly populated by men and she had never had a sister, she never realized how important a close relationship with another woman was until Janet died. Vala had helped fill that void in Sam's life that Janet had left and she hoped their friendship wouldn't be over because of her feelings for Daniel.

"Oh, just a little foggy, but I'll be fine." She spoke without facing her. Sam merely nodded her head and looked to her hands, trying to hide her disappointment. Hopefully, one day she could convince Vala that she wasn't trying to steal Daniel away from her, but right now she was still hurt, so Sam decided that she needed to give Vala some space.

A nurse came a few minutes later and Sam went through the motions of the post-offworld exam. When they were finished she, Teal'c and Cam went back to Vala and sat with her, waiting for news on Daniel. Everyone was quiet for the most part and Vala fell asleep shortly after they came to her bedside. Sam herself was exhausted, but her thoughts kept her from achieving any rest. It had already been an hour since Daniel went into surgery and there was still no word on how he was doing.

She looked to her watch repeatedly. Time seemed to move so slow and the waiting was grating on her nerves. Noticing her tension, Cam got up and stood over her.

"C'mon Sam, let's go get some coffee."

"Nah, you go ahead."

"It wasn't a suggestion, Sam." He ordered and she looked up at him in irritation until his tone softened a bit. "At least come walk with me to the commissary, one could go out of their mind with boredom in here." She didn't want to leave, but Cam was right, the anticipation was driving her to distraction. Reluctantly, she left her chair and followed after Mitchell.

They walked to the commissary without saying a word. Cam grabbed a cup of coffee and handed it to Sam before filling a mug up for himself. He pointed to a table and they had a seat. They drank for a few moments in silence until Mitchell spoke up.

"So when were you going to tell me about you and Jackson?" Sam put her mug down and stared into its contents, not wanting to answer him.

"Look, it's okay, I understand how you might have wanted to keep this quiet, but I need to know when something like this might affect the team. As it is, I had to drag it out of Vala. If you haven't noticed, she hasn't exactly been a happy camper."

"You're right Cam, I'm sorry."

"For what it's worth, I think its cool that you two are together. But the question of what happens to the team remains. Do you think you can separate yourself from your feelings when you work together? Tell me honestly."

Sam contemplated that while Mitchell drank more of his coffee. She always thought that she would be able be objective, but now she had to wonder if her feelings for Daniel had clouded her thinking when she worked to solve the DHD problem on the planet. Maybe if she hadn't been distracted by his injury she would have found the solution sooner.

"I thought I could, but now... I don't know." She answered as well as she could.

"Do you want to know what I think?"

"Okay."

"I think that you worked brilliantly to get us off that planet today even with Jackson getting hurt. As far as the team goes, you're both professionals that know how to behave yourselves and we need you both on the team. I'm planning on talking to Landry about it and see if he can't make some sort of special dispensation for you two. As for Vala, she'll be pissed for a while, but she'll get over it"

"Thanks, Cam. It means a lot to me that we have your support."

"Hey, no problem, what are friends for? Just remind him every once in a while of what a lucky guy he is, and not just for all of his miraculous resurrections, but because he has you."

She gave him an appreciative smile and finished her coffee off, feeling a little refreshed. Cam also downed the rest of his drink and they both got up to return the infirmary and continue the vigil.


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: I wish I owned Stargate SG1 or it's characters, but alas, I do not._

_Once again, I want to thank those of you who have reviewed this story, you've given me some great suggestions and you motivate me to keep writing. :)_

Oblivion was a good thing Daniel decided. That foggy, twilight zone that existed between full awareness and slumber was a peaceful and painless space his mind longed to stay in. However, the all too familiar sounds of the infirmary and a dull ache beginning to spread throughout his side conspired to drag him from that happy place and back to the land of the living.

Voices were talking around him, but his hazy, drugged-up mind couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Not that he really cared all that much, he just wanted them to be silent so he could go back to the quiet nothingness he had known before. But, his damn side was really starting to bug him and the voices were only becoming clearer and more recognizable.

He wasn't quite certain, but he thought one voice had to be Vala's. Another female voice was speaking with her, perhaps Dr. Lam's or one of the other nurses, but he really didn't want to open his eyes to find out. Their words became more intelligible to him as his fuzzy brain threatened to betray him and wake him up.

"...promise I'll go straight to bed and report back here in the morning." That was definitely Vala, Daniel thought.

"I'm sorry Vala, but you have a concussion and an orbital fracture, I can't let you go until you have an ophthalmologist look at that eye." Okay, that was Dr. Lam he confirmed to himself.

"Great! Then let's bring him down here."

"_She's_ not coming until the morning, so I would suggest that you get some rest and enjoy your stay with us."

"Enjoy? I'm bored out of my skull! Can't we at least get a television to watch in here?" Daniel was imagining Vala pouting after realizing that she wasn't going to win this battle with the good doctor.

While the potent drugs coursing throughout his bloodstream were making it difficult for him to string more than a couple of coherent thoughts together, they were also having the added effect of allowing his mouth to work without his permission.

"Maybe you should read a book." is what he thought he tried to say to her as he lay there with his eyes closed, hoping it would shut Vala up enough to allow him to return to his previous state of blissful sleep. However, what he had actually said was more of a mumbled and garbled version of it that was barely audible to anyone else in the room. It didn't go unnoticed though.

Daniel registered movement at the end of his bed and thought he felt a hand grab his leg and pat it gently.

"Daniel?" It was Sam's voice he heard this time. He fought against the grogginess and pried his eyes open to see Sam at the foot of the bed, her hair askew and falling out of her ponytail. She had apparently been sleeping in a chair by the side of his legs with her head and chest resting on his bed, the imprint of the blanket's texture still marking half of her face.

"You awake?" She asked while getting up and moving closer to his face. He gave her a sleepy smile, she still looked lovely, even in her current state of dishevelment. She grabbed his hand and tightened her fingers around his. He returned her squeeze and her face lit up with a grin.

"He's awake." Sam announced to Vala and Dr. Lam. The doctor walked over to Daniel's side and began to assess his condition.

"Welcome back, Dr. Jackson." she started while grabbing her penlight from her lab coat pocket. He dreaded the blinding flash of light in his eyes, but he endured it without complaint. "How are you feeling?" she asked after putting the light back into her coat pocket.

"Fine." He managed to get out without horribly mangling the word with his cottony mouth.

"Sure, you are. You've been shot and lost a third of your blood volume, of course you're 'fine'" Dr. Lam crossed her arms, sarcastically accusing him of lying. "Why don't you tell me how you really feel."

In truth, the pain from his side was growing as his fogginess lifted and he shifted in order to alleviate some of the discomfort, unfortunately it didn't help much.

"A little sore." He finally admitted. Dr. Lam shook her head.

"See, that wasn't so hard. I'll make sure you get some more medication."

"Thanks." He responded, not thinking that he needed any more drugs clouding up his mind, but he was still too tired to fight her. She patted him on the shoulder and left him alone with Sam. Still holding onto his hand, Sam grabbed her chair and pulled it closer to the head of the bed and sat down.

"You look tired, Sam." He pointed out to her. "You should get some more sleep."

"I'll be alright, Daniel. I'm just glad you're okay." Sam assured him and moments later Dr. Lam walked back up to his bed with a syringe in hand and plunged the drug into his IV line.

"This will probably make you a little sleepy." She informed him before turning back to Vala and addressing her.

"As for you. If I find you have even so much as gotten up from this bed, I will post a SF to you. Am I clear?"

"Fine." Vala sighed "At least I don't have to be here as long as he does." She hitched her thumb in Daniel's direction. Groaning inwardly, he hadn't thought yet about how long he was going to have to stay here in the infirmary.

"How long am I going to be here?" He asked Dr. Lam.

"A few days, then you can go home and recuperate for a couple of weeks before going back to work. And that doesn't mean two weeks of work at home it means two weeks of _rest." _Carolyn told him with a stern face and turned to return to her other duties in the infirmary. Daniel wasn't aware of the face he made upon hearing that he wouldn't be able to work for a while. He thrived on his job, it wasn't so much that he loved the working part, but he lived off the excitement of discovery, at being the first at meeting new people or learning the histories of those who had disappeared long ago.

"Cheer up Daniel, I'm sure that Sam here would love to play nurse to you while you recover." Vala quipped with snarkiness dripping from her words. If he hadn't already started to feel the effects of the new medicine Dr. Lam had introduced to his system, he would have thrown something at her. Sam just shook her head without making a comeback to her comment. He guessed Vala as still a little bitter about him and Sam but he was beginning to get sleepy again and just didn't have the wherewithal to verbally duke it out with her. Instead, he used his remaining amount of wakefulness to talk with Sam.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to stay awake much longer, Sam. You should go and get some sleep yourself." Sam hesitated, but Daniel squeezed her hand harder.

"C'mon, you don't really want to sit around here and watch me sleep?" She smiled at him and relented.

"Guess you're right. I'll be back in a few hours." She bent down so that her lips were nearly touching his ear. Her hot breath near his face thrilled him, but not as much as when she whispered "I love you." As she was still near him, he returned the sentiment into her own ear before she pulled away and quickly gave him a kiss on the forehead.

He watched her leave with heavy eyelids and allowed sleep to carry him off again. He wasn't sure how long he slept, but once again, the sound of voices speaking beside him roused him from his dreamless slumber. He wasn't surprised to hear Vala's voice again, but it was the man speaking with her that did.

"Jack?" It could be the drugs playing with his mind he thought, but Jack's unmistakable form, clad in his blue class-A uniform, appeared when he opened his eyes. Halting his conversation with Vala, the grey-haired general turned and addressed him.

"Daniel, You up?"

"Wha...What are you doing here?"

"Can't a guy visit a friend when said friend up and dies on him yet again?"

"I didn't die."

"Sure, you did. According to Dr. Lam you had no heartbeat for almost three minutes."

"Well, then I was only 'technically dead'. Not dead...dead." He frowned, not knowing if what he just said made any sense whatsoever. Thankfully, he was feeling a little more clear-headed than he had the previous time he had awoken, but he still wasn't as sharp as he could be.

"Whatever, I was in the neighborhood. Had to attend a send-off ceremony for Woolsey on the Daedalus before they took off for Atlantis. Since I was already on the ship, I figured they could just beam me here so I could make sure that you weren't dead-dead this time around. Speaking of which, I have to get back soon. You spent so much time sleeping, I almost didn't think I was going to get to say hi. At least I had Vala here to keep me company." He looked at her and gave her a wink, she smiled back at him. Daniel wondered what they must have talked about, but he wasn't about to ask.

"Yes, Daniel. Jack was kind enough to distract me from your constant snoring."

"I don't snore." Daniel denied flatly. Jack and Vala exchanged looks. "What? I don't."

"Sure you don't." Jack sarcastically ribbed him.

"Why don't you just ask Sam, Daniel. I'm sure she could tell you that you snore." Vala retorted snidely.

"Vala!" He ground out her name through clenched teeth. Crap! He hadn't expected her to blurt out so much to Jack. Then again, she didn't know too much about the history that Sam and Jack had, otherwise he was sure she would have kept it to herself, or perhaps she was still pissed and looking for a way to get back at him. At least she had the look of someone who was feeling guilty about opening their big, fat mouth after she caught Daniel's angry gaze.

"What?" Jack asked, confused. "Why would Sam..." he trailed off, realizing the implications of what Vala had just said. "What?!" He repeated, only this time with an edge to his voice. Jack stalked over to the open curtain that divided the space between his and Vala's beds.

"'Scuze me Vala, I have a friend I need to kill." Vala mouthed the word 'sorry' to Daniel as Jack flung the curtain closed, as if the striped and flimsy material could actually provide any sort of privacy from the onslaught that he feared was coming his way from Jack's direction.

"What the hell is going on?" He demanded to know. "Is there something between you and Carter?"

"Well... ah..you see..." Daniel tried to begin to explain. "Things just...happened." Jack cupped his hand to his mouth and turned away from Daniel.

"Jack..." Still keeping his back to him Jack interrupted Daniel.

"I'm trying to think, Daniel. I know I don't have an IQ anywhere near yours or Carter's, but I still need to do it every once in a while."

"I'm Sorry." Daniel wasn't sure it would be enough, but it was a start. There was silence for a moment until Jack turned around and sat in the chair by his bed. He stared at the floor shaking his head. Daniel was gifted at speaking to people and usually the right words to say that smoothed out rough situations came to him easily, rarely was he at a loss for words. This just happened to be one of those times where he couldn't think of anything.

"So, what? She's here like a day and you just couldn't control yourself, is that it?"

"God, Jack! You know that's not the case!" Daniel tried to sit up, but was reminded of his wound when his side flared in pain and flung his head back down to the pillow in frustration.

"Why Carter?" Jack asked in a slightly softer tone, but tainted with a hint of bitterness. Daniel knew that it was dawning on his friend that any chance of a relationship with Sam, no matter how remote, was now completely gone for him. Finding out that Daniel was seeing Sam put that final nail in the coffin. However, Jack had chosen not to be with Sam, Daniel reminded himself. Was she supposed to pine hopelessly over him forever? That thought made Daniel a little angry, Jack had been a fool to let her go.

"Because I love her and I think I have for a long time, but just didn't figure it out until now." He told him. Jack was quiet while he absorbed that information and slowly he began to nod his head.

"Fine. You two have fun together." He stated flatly, barely masking the disappointment in his voice as he stood up. Jack tried to conceal it, but the hurt and anger was evident on his face, making Daniel feel rotten. "I gotta go, the Daedalus will be leaving soon and I don't want to hitchhike back to Washington."

"Jack wait." Daniel called out to him as Jack turned to leave, but he kept on going without stopping or looking behind.

"Crap!" that was definitely not how he had hoped things would work out.


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer: I still don't own Startgate SG1 or its characters. I'm only writing this for fun, not for profit._

_Once again this is a product of very late-night writing, so please forgive me if it's filled with mistakes._

Sam sipped at her coffee as she walked down the corridor towards the infirmary. She hoped that Daniel would be awake when she got there. She had been by once already after she had woken up from her nap, but he had still been fast asleep, so she had gone to the commissary to get some breakfast and coffee. Nearing her destination, she nearly spit the hot brew from her mouth when she she was greeted by the sight of Jack stalking out of the infirmary doors. She could tell he was upset, especially when he noticed her walking his way.

"Sir! What are you doing here?" She asked. He paused as though trying to decide if he should stay and speak with her or turn around and head in the opposite direction. Something was definitely wrong.

"Came to see Daniel, Carter." Was all he offered to her. Had something happened to Daniel while she had been away from his bedside? He had seemed to be doing better last time she had been in, but had he taken a turn for the worse? Jack was clearly not happy and he had just left the infirmary, making her imagination run wild.

"What's wrong? Is Daniel okay?"

"Oh, Daniel's just fine, in fact more than fine, eh Carter?" He gave her an accusing glare and she got it now. He found out about them. She was surprised that Daniel would have told him already, but it was done now and by the looks of things, it had not gone well.

"Oh." Was all she could find to say.

"Oh is right." He bitterly told her off "I gotta go." He tried to go around her, but she grabbed his arm. She wasn't about to let him get away from her without an explanation.

"We need to talk, sir."

"Do we? I'm not really in the mood, _colonel._" He tried to assert his authority over her and it might have worked a few years ago, but not now, not when they needed to air out their problems. She gave him a look that told him that she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Fine." he gave in.

"Let's go to my lab, sir." She led him down the corridor to the elevator and they rode to the level her lab was on in silence. Stepping off the elevator, Jack followed her to her lab and once inside grabbed a stool and sat with his arms crossed, waiting for Sam to close the door and join him.

She wasn't sure where to start. She took a seat next to the general and blew out a breath she had been holding for too long.

Sam knew that Jack was never one to talk about his feelings, that was just one of the things that Sam had always reminded herself of why a relationship would have never worked out between them. She needed someone she could talk to and Jack was so closed mouthed, it just about takes a crowbar to get him to open up about anything. Even now, after knowing the man for over a decade, she still didn't know much of anything about his family or his life before coming to the SGC.

"So, you wanted to talk...let's talk." Jack demanded, waiting for her to respond. She pondered how to proceed. Jack's anger had seemed to dissipate when they had been making their way to her lab, but she knew she would still have to tread lightly. She was about to speak when Jack interrupted her

"I'm sorry Carter, I didn't mean to snap at you. But, you and Daniel? I never would have guessed it." He sighed, looking a bit deflated. However, he kept speaking as though he were thinking out loud. "I suppose I don't have any right to be angry with you two, it's just that this all came out of no where for me. I always think of you guys as just best buds, not...you know."

"I know sir, I just want you to know that neither one of us ever wanted to hurt your feelings."

"I know that. I just need some time to process it all."

"yes, sir."

There was silence it the room between them, only the sounds of machines humming filled the air.

"I just hope you understand that I love Daniel and this isn't something that either one of us is taking lightly. I think we have a real chance at being happy together."

"I suppose you two probably have more in common than you or I ever did." He conceded. "Makes sense for you to be together and I do want you both to be happy, really."

She gave him a little smile, relieved that Jack was coming around. Since they were finally speaking more than two words to each other at a time, she figured now was the best time to get some other things off of her chest.

"I never really got to tell you how sorry I was about the way things turned out between us, sir. I never wanted things to become so uncomfortable." She had always regretted that she hadn't tried to seal the rift that had formed between them since they both decided to keep their relationship on the friendship level. Being away for a year in Atlantis had only served for that valley to grow wider, but now that she was back for good, maybe it was time for them renew their friendship.

She wished things to be the way they were when she, Daniel, Teal'c and O'Neill were teammates, all of them bonded by shared experiences and each one willing to lay down their life for their friends. But since Since Jack had been promoted to general and placed in command of the SGC, she had no doubt that it had been a difficult transition from battle-hardened warrior to desk-jockey. He was a man of action and she had always wondered if it had been more than just the promotion to home-world security that had him sent him packing to Washington, maybe it had just become to painful to watch his friends go off on missions and risk their lives when he couldn't join them.

"No one's sorrier about that than I am, Carter. I was an idiot. But I had my chance and blew it. There's no use dwelling on what might have been though. What's done is done, can't change it now."

She nodded her agreement.

"Perhaps this means we can look forward to being friends now, without all that tension between us. I mean, we've literally have been to hell and back together and that means something to me and I don't want to lose that."

"Me neither." He finally gave her a smile and she saw a spark of his usually irreverent self return."C'mere." he ordered as he got up. She got up and he drew her into his arms for a quick hug.

"Just so you know, if we're going to do this whole friend thing, I think you should start calling me 'Jack'."

"Fine..._Jack_." It felt really strange to call him that, but also very nice. "You just have to remember to call me 'Sam'."

"Okay, _Sam_. What say you and I go to the infirmary, I have some things I need to say to Daniel before I go. I might need to apologize a little"

"I take it things didn't go so smoothly when you found out about us."

"Yeah... I may have overreacted a tad. At least I didn't hit him. Though the thought seriously crossed my mind." She chuckled a bit at that as they left her lab and made their way back to the infirmary.

It was strangely quiet in the infirmary when they arrived. There were no teams rushing in with medical emergencies from off-world, nurses were trying to keep themselves occupied by restocking supplies and Vala was laying quietly in her bed staring at the ceiling. A subdued and still Vala could never be a good thing.

The curtain separating her and Daniel's bed was still closed and as Sam came near she could see that Vala had been trying her hardest to keep herself from crying. She and Jack exchanged a look.

"I'll take Daniel if you take Vala." Jack suggested before they cut across the infirmary bay.

"Sounds good to me."

Jack went to the curtain and passed through the opening, closing it shut again behind him. Sam went to Vala's side and sat in the chair by her bed. She could hear Jack and Daniel talking quietly on the other side of the curtain but she focused on Vala, who was trying her best to wipe away the tears that had gathered at the bottom. She winced as she tried to swipe at her swollen eye.

"Vala, what's wrong?"

"I made a horrible mistake. Daniel won't even talk to me now."

"Why? What happened."

"I kinda let it slip that you and Daniel were seeing each other to General O'Neill."

"Oh, well. Don't worry about that Vala. Actually I should thank-you, Jack and I had a talk we should have had a long time ago and I think things will work out. Don't worry about Daniel, he will come around."

"It's not just that, Sam." Vala took a deep breath and looked up again at the ceiling, the tears threatening to come again. She blew it out and composed herself again before turning to look at Sam.

"Do you think people can change?"

"Of Course they can, Vala." she reassured her.

"I thought I could change. I wanted to be the kind of person Daniel is, Morally upright and all that, so I put my lying, cheating and stealing days behind me. But, there's still a part of me that I struggle with. I have always been the jealous type and though I hold no claim on Daniel whatsoever, I've always considered him to be mine. However, when he looks at you, I can tell that you make him incredibly happy, whereas, I only make him irritated. I can't help but be jealous that you two were meant for each other and he and I are not. I suppose that's why I have been such a bitch and I'm sorry Sam. I just hope it's not too late for us to still be friends."

"Vala, we'll always be friends. As far as Daniel goes, he cares about you a lot. He wouldn't give up until we found a way to get you back from Ba'al's host and he's really not as irritated with you as he may let on. In fact, I'm pretty sure he enjoys fighting with you. He's the same way with Jack"

"Oh, I don't know Sam. He seemed genuinely angry with me a few minutes ago."

"Well, he'll get over it." She gave Vala a pat on the knee.

"Thanks."

With a whoosh the curtain dividing the two beds opened and Jack stepped out and closed it again. Sam gave him a questioning look and he shrugged.

"We talked. All's good. He fell asleep again."

"That was fast." Sam remarked.

"Well, we've had a lot of practice apologizing to one another over the years."

Sam had to smile at that, they had many fights over the years, some of them nearly coming to blows. Yet, somehow they always managed to keep their friendship intact. Though neither man would admit it, they were closer than most brothers and they wouldn't know what to do without the other.

"Anyway, I really do have to go this time." Jack told the two women. He turned to Vala and gave her a soft, fake punch to the chin. "Keep practicing those hooks I showed you and you just might be able to actually beat me next time we spar."

"Sure thing. That shouldn't be too hard." She beamed at him and he returned it with a smile of his own.

"Oh, I want you to have this, it's my cell number." He handed Vala a small scrap of paper. "Call me anytime."

"Don't do it Jack." a voice called from over the curtain. "She'll never leave you alone now."

"Go back to sleep, Daniel." Jack called back to him.

"Wish I could."

Jack shook his head and gave Sam and Vala a wave before taking off for the infirmary doors. Vala held the little piece of paper close to her chest and watched him go. Sam thought she might have seen a little glint of attraction in her eyes for the older man and the next words out of Vala's mouth only confirmed it.

"You think he's seeing anyone?"

Sam gave a little laugh and she was certain she heard a snort come from the other side of the curtain. Yeah, Jack was definitely going to be regretting that he gave her his number.

"What?" Vala asked. "Just curious."


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: I will most likely never own any part of Stargate SG1, so I write this purely for entertainment._

_Well, this is it. I think I'm finally finished writing this. I want to thank everyone that has left a review, especially drgemini86, Mithras151, WhiteElfElder,HAZMOT, J.Stone, Srcrib, EternalDestiny and anyone else who has read this story. It's been fun!_

Seven weeks later and Daniel was hard at work in his office, or at least trying to work hard anyway. This was the best he had felt since being shot and he wanted to take the opportunity that a pain-free side gave him to catch up on the mounds of translations and artifact cataloging that had been piling up. Finally free from Dr. Lam's clutches and cleared to work full time, he wanted to get as much done as possible before Sam returned. However, he was finding himself easily distracted and preoccupied thinking about her.

After Teal'c and Mitchell helped to move Sam into her new apartment, Daniel had spent most of his convalescence there so she could help him out. She had taken two weeks of leave right after he was released from the infirmary as the team was put on stand-down until he and Vala were fully recovered. They had spent most of their time together, watching movies and spooning, playing chess or scrabble or just talking late into the evening. It had been one of the best times of his life as they had shared and grown more in their love for one another with each passing day.

Of course, it couldn't last forever and pretty soon they were both back on base again. She hard at work, spending the majority of the next month devising a program to circumvent Ba'al's computer security on his solar flare predicting time machine and he did his best to play catch up on his work. Much to his chagrin, Mitchell or Vala would interrupt him every couple of hours and force him to take a break. He was convinced that Dr. Lam had put them up to it, since he had only been cleared for part-time duties until just a couple of days ago. However, He had still managed to sneak in a couple of extra hours in here and there without anyone being the wiser.

Once Sam had finished her 'Ba'al buster' program, as Mitchell had so eloquently dubbed it, she left with SG-4 back to Praxyon with a team of scientists to unlock some of the mysteries that surrounded the device. Daniel missed her presence, but knew she was most likely having the time of her life studying the new technology and hopefully she could shed some light onto where Ba'al's insane ex-host went. Daniel had to admit that he was curious as well to find out what might have happened to the man.

Daniel picked up yet another document from the piles of papers that littered his desk and began to focus his attention on the writing. Try as he might though, his mind wandered to thoughts of a more carnal nature.

While making love had been physically impossible due to his injury, he and Sam had still found ways to express their passion for one another. He would often find some excuse to come down to her lab or she would come to his office and they would often find themselves embraced in a lusty kiss. However, Daniel was looking forward to furthering their sexual relationship again, especially since he was feeling as close to normal as he had in a long time. He guiltily felt like a horny teenager, daydreaming about her body and the feel of it against his own. The smell of her hair and ... He shook his head and tried to force the thought aside, if he kept it up much longer, he'd have to walk to the gateroom to meet Sam with a book clutched in front of him.

Once again, he looked to the timepiece on the wall and was relieved to see that it was just about time to go and greet her as she came in. He had been anxiously watching the clock for the past several hours, as though he could will time to move a little faster and bring her back to him sooner. He threw the document he had unsuccessfully endeavored to start onto the thick stack of other papers and headed for the door.

Just as he entered the control room, he saw the gate burst into life. They were right on time. Sam and the rest of the scientists along with SG-4 emerged from the wormhole and descended the ramp. Daniel left the control room and met the team as they were coming through the blast doors. Sam smiled brightly at seeing Daniel and he resisted the urge to sweep her up into a big bear hug.

"Welcome home, everyone." He heard General Landry's voice speak up behind him. Daniel nearly jumped, he hadn't even noticed that the general had been behind him the whole time.

"Thank-you, sir." Sam replied for the team.

"Why doesn't everyone go and get showers and physicals then report back here for debriefing in an hour." Landry ordered.

A chorus of 'yes sirs' echoed around as the general excused himself and went back up the stairs to his office.

"Hey" Sam greeted him cheerily as she came up to Daniel.

"Hey yourself." He returned happily and they fell into step with each other as they walked side-by-side down the corridor.

"You look like you're feeling better." She remarked with a grin.

"I feel great actually. Vicodin free for the last four days." He returned her grin "How did it go over there?"

"In a word? It was awesome. The program to get around Ba'al's security worked like a champ and we learned so much the last few days, it'll make your head spin." Daniel couldn't help but get caught up in her enthusiasm.

"So, were you right? Is it a time machine?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. It can send a person back in time through the Stargate, but once in the past, there's no way back to the future, except to wait until it happens."

"So, no flux capacitor on a DeLorean to get one home again?" He joked

"'Fraid not." She gave him a tiny chuckle.

"How about Ba'al's host, any idea where he went?"

"Oh, well, it turns out he sent himself back to Earth, 1939."

"Any idea why?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Hmmm, 1939. Interesting year to transport himself back to. It is after all, the year Hitler invaded Poland, essentially beginning World War II. Maybe he thought he could mess with the time line and somehow change the outcome of the war to Germany's favor."

"Maybe, but what would he really gain from that? I mean even if he was to influence Hitler in some way, it wouldn't help him gain any control over the other system lords."

"Guess we'll never know. If he did manage to change something in our past, we wouldn't know it would we?"

"Nope, we would perceive it as a normal part of our past."

"So, assuming that the host went back in time, he most likely is dead by now since there is no way for him to return to the present and whatever he may or may not have done doesn't really matter, since anything he might have done to the timeline would be unnoticeable to us" It nearly hurt Daniel trying to wrap his brain around the concept.

"Basically." Sam agreed with a smile . Before they knew it Daniel found them both at the door to Sam's lab and he followed her inside. She closed the door and they came together automatically like the opposite poles on two magnets. Their lips fused and electricity soared through Daniel. He found it hard to contain himself, but they had both agreed they would never have sex on base. It was just way to unprofessional for both of them. Kissing however, they decided was fine, as long as it was out of sight of all personnel and cameras. News of their relationship had spread quickly throughout the base, but neither one of them really wanted to add any fuel to the already fiery gossip pool.

They had found the blind spot of the cameras in each of their labs to be the best place for a quick moment of intimacy. As they made use of this limitation in the base's security, Daniel almost literally had to pull himself away from Sam, a week without her had definitely made the heart grow fonder. Eventually, they both came back to reality and Sam needed to leave to get a shower and a check-up before her meeting with the general.

"How does dinner tonight sound?"

"Wonderful. After eating MRE's all week, any kind of food sounds good."

"Great. I've got us some reservations at Primo's."

"Primo's eh? Very fancy, I guess I'll have to get dressed up."

"Well, it has been a week since you had a decent meal, might as well go with the best."

"Okay, I'll meet you in your office after our debriefing, it shouldn't take longer than an hour or so." Sam was about to leave before Daniel pulled her back again. He slowly traced a finger down her face and then placed both hands on the side of her face. He pulled her in for yet another kiss, slower this time and she responded by wrapping her hands behind his head, running her fingers through his hair. When their lips finally left each other Daniel drew her in her a tight embrace.

"Did I tell you yet that I missed you?" He asked her.

"I missed you too." She laid her head onto his shoulder and he held her tighter. He didn't want to let go and she made no moves to release him either.

"I should really go." She told him, her voice muffled as she pressed her face further into his shirt.

"Yeah, I guess so." They each made no attempt to move, remaining in their hug a few moments longer, enjoying the closeness of each other's bodies and the strength they found in each other's arms.

"I love you, Daniel." Sam declared as she finally pulled herself away from their embrace. Daniel held onto her forearms and gazed longingly into her eyes.

"I love you too, Sam." At last, Daniel let her arms go and Sam smiled when Daniel gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll see ya later."

"See ya." She promised as she kissed him back. She turned to go and headed for the locker room. Daniel slumped against the wall behind him and blew out a breath. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, opening it and examining the ring inside. Maybe it had only been a few weeks since they had first come to terms with their feelings for one another, but he didn't want to wait any longer to give Sam the life she dreamed of and that he had come to consider as his own dream as well. He fingered the shiny gold band and solitaire diamond, smiling as he imagined slipping it onto her finger. Hopefully, tonight would be the night that they turned their dreams into reality.

Unbeknownst to him, Sam had slipped back into the lab to retrieve a couple of reports she had forgotten she would need for her debriefing with the general. She spied Daniel still against the wall, examining the small black jewelry box and the ring it contained. She was nearly faint with excitement as she realized what it was. She meant to leave as quietly as possible so as to keep him from thinking that he had blown the surprise, but suddenly Daniel looked up and noticed her open-mouthed expression.

"Sam!" He reddened, not expecting to see her.

"Daniel is that what I think it is?" She asked still numb from shock. He snapped the box shut and began to stammer nervously.

"Um...Uh...You really weren't supposed to see this yet, it was going to be a surprise. I was going to give it to you in a more...uh..romantic setting. I had it all planned...with dinner and everything.." His face fell, thinking that he had messed everything up. He had spent the better part of the week thinking of the perfect things to say to her to express how he wanted to spend the rest of his life by her side, but now the surprise was ruined. She however, smiled as brightly as she ever had in her life and flew into Daniel's arms, overcome with joy.

"It's okay." she laughed kissing him."I'm definitely surprised and you can do it properly as you planned tonight. That way I can come up with the perfect way to say 'yes'."

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Many years before either Sam or Daniel were even a twinkle in their parent's eyes, Colonel Cameron Mitchell of the United States Air Force stood looking out into the vast freezing waters of the North Atlantic ocean. By his side, his own grandfather, a man he had never imagined he would ever encounter, stood in silent reverie. Ba'al was dead behind him, a bullet hole through his brain and Cam prayed that this meant the years he had spent waiting for this moment had changed history back to it's original course.

Life for him now was uncertain. There was no way to transport himself back to the future, he was stuck here. It was worth it, he thought. His world as worth it and the lives of his friends were worth it. He just hoped that they would now have they life they were meant to have. O'Neill would be alive, Sam would be happy, Jackson would have his leg back, Teal'c would be with the Tau'ri again and Vala would be free of Quetesh. As for himself, he could find comfort in knowing that he would be born about 30 years from now and grow up in a loving home with the picture of the man standing next to him on the mantle.

He turned to the man by his side and the older man gave him a grin and nodded his head, clasping him on the shoulder.

"Looks like we have a lot to talk about." his grandfather said, turning to look at the bodies that lay strewn about interior of his cargo hold and the now inactive Stargate, still held within the confines of it's packing crate.

"Yeah, I suppose you deserve a bit of an explanation..." Cam was about to begin before the familiar sounds of chevrons locking caught him by surprise. He motioned for the captain and his first mate at the other side to move away from the hole before the wormhole burst forth again. He trained his weapon back onto the Stargate and waited. Without warning, a figure emerged backward through the event horizon. The man turned around and Mitchell caught the crazed look in the man's eyes. Mitchell immediately recognized the man as Ba'al and before he could raise the weapon he was carrying, Mitchell fired and landed a round right between the eyes of the dark haired man. Ba'al fell to his knees and landed onto the back of the previous Ba'al Mitchell had killed.

The gate snapped off again and Cam stepped forward to examine the bodies. The second Ba'al was dressed simpler, in fact, he was dressed as Cam remembered him on the day he was to be extracted by the Tok'ra. Adding to Mitchell's confusion, he bent down and retrieved the weapon the man had carried with him through the Stargate. It was a P-90. Cam shook his head, he could only guess how Ba'al had ended up with one of the SGC's preferred weapons.

"So, just how many of these guys are there?" His grandfather asked him.

"Wish I knew." The surprised colonel answered him. Getting up again, Cameron turned to look through the hole the Stargate left on the side of the ship. Once again the captain, joined him.

"How about that explanation now?" The older man demanded.

"Sure." Cam began hesitantly. "this could take a while."

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Epilogue

Sunlight poured through the window and Sam rolled over, throwing an arm over her eyes to shield them from the bright onslaught of morning. Despite the light, she felt great, having just had the best night's sleep she could recall in a long time. Running a hand over to the space beside her in bed, she found it empty. However, the strong scent of fresh, brewed coffee reassured her that Daniel had not gone far.

She was tempted to just lie between the sheets and enjoy the solitude and quiet, but there was much to do and as much as she hated to leave the warm comfort of bed, she forced herself to throw the covers off and rise. Eschewing her normal bathroom routine for the promise of a cup of coffee, she yawned and stretched as she walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. She rounded the corner and headed for the pot, unsurprised to find it already half-empty. Grabbing a mug from the cabinet, she poured herself a cup.

As she walked into the living room while sipping her coffee, she paused and stopped. She smiled as she took in the sight before her. Daniel was sitting in the rocking recliner with his back to her as he rocked back and forth, singing softly.

"_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine." _He sang slightly out of tune. He was never much of a singer, but it warmed Sam's heart to hear it anyway.

"_You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you." _Sam approached quietly, not wanting to disturb him. She could see that his eyes were only partway open and sleep was trying to overtake him.

"_Please don't take my sunshine away." _His eyes closed all of the way and the rocking slowly came to a stop. She knelt beside him and kissed him on a stubbly cheek. His eyes opened blearily and he gave her a tired smile.

"Morning, sunshine." She greeted, softly teasing him.

"Good morning. You sleep well last night?" He whispered.

"Yeah, thank-you, it was glorious." She quietly answered appreciatively.

"Good." He yawned and Sam placed her mug on the coffee table. "It was about time you got some decent shut eye." He told her.

"You should get some too, did you get any at all last night?"

"A little." He replied, but the bags that had formed under his eyes told another story.

"Why don't you go to bed, I can take over from here."

"Okay." Daniel stood up slowly and gently transferred the small bundle he had been holding into Sam's outstretched arms.

"Love You." He whispered to Sam and gave her a quick kiss on the lips and then bent down to tenderly place a light kiss onto the forehead of the tiny sleeping infant she now held. "Love you too, Pumpkin. Be good to Mommy or at least be better than you were to Daddy last night." He smiled warmly at Sam then headed down to the bedroom, yawning all of the way. Sam watched him as he disappeared into the bedroom and smiled to herself, sometimes he was just too good to be true.

There was much that Sam needed to do that day. Their teammates and friends would be arriving that afternoon to celebrate the birth of their baby and she really should be getting ready for their visit. Even the newly retired Jack, who decided as soon as Sam announced her pregnancy that he would need to be called 'Uncle Jack', would be there.

Thinking of Jack, she was glad he had decided to move back to Colorado Springs for his retirement. Daniel was obviously glad to have his old friend around, even if he would never fess up to it and she had never seen Vala so happy. She and Jack had been spending quite a lot of time together and not all of it sparring in the boxing ring.

Sam gazed into the face of her daughter as she relaxed into the recliner. She could get started on everything she needed to do in a little bit, but right now she just wanted to enjoy this moment. Sam watched through her balcony window as the sun crept up through the tops of the trees. Life was good. She was married to the most wonderful man in the world, she had the child she always dreamed of, had the best friends anyone could ask for and the world didn't need to be saved for the moment. Yes, she thought, it doesn't get any better than this.

The End :)


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